Night Life and Star Shine
by thedivinetreasury
Summary: This is an adventure between Molly and the Wizard. Taking place after the restoration of the Goddess's tree and the return of the Harvest King, this will explore Gale's abilities as a Wizard as he fights dark forces with his magic, and they'll explore her magic and their feelings. They'll need the help of Harmonica Town for this adventure they won't forget. Photo is official art.
1. Chapter 1

As usual, he had a long night, but he woke up at 9 AM anyway. He was groggy, but slowly, he was getting used to it, knowing why he must. With a flick of his wrist, the coffee on his night stand shot towards him and he grabbed it instinctually and drank it, reeling back a little due to its staleness. "I should probably make more" he thought, drinking it again anyway. He stood up and walked towards his desk with his mug of stale coffee in hand, and started on some work he delayed to now. Only a few words were studied before he perked up and thought "Molly!"

A snap of his fingers later and his robe was on his body and was out the door, hoping to make his way to the countryside, but not making it far before seeing the girl of his dreams walk towards him, holding a cup of steaming hot coffee that he knew was coming for him.

"I am very happy to see you", he said as she gave him the coffee.

"Are you talking to the coffee or to me?"

"Both."

He sipped that coffee, happy to taste something that wasn't a day old, left out after a long night of exploring the cosmos. He looked towards Molly, and she to him. He loved the color of her hair, like a warm chestnut, and her eyes like fine mahogany. Molly's lips creased to make a warm smile, and her body started to sway in motion side-to-side. He may be a wizard, but he didn't need magic to know she wanted to tell him something. "Was there something else you wanted?" he asked, knowing perfectly well there was something.

"Well… I found this in Fugue Forest, and I was wondering if it was anything special…" she proceeded to search her rucksack in search of the mystery item, and pulled out something he desperately needed.

"That's…" he exclaimed, taken aback from the wonder and shock that she could even know of such a thing, "that's a Fugue Mushroom." The farmer handed it to the wizard, feeling like he could need it. "But how did you…" he couldn't even bring himself to finish the sentence. "I was in the forest searching for mushrooms to ship, and I found it and thought of you. It felt like something important." His mouth was agape with wonder and happiness. He knew these were rare, and that she of all people could see it was incredible. He knew she was something special…

The wonder disappeared as he saw a black shadow fly by. She looked towards where he was staring and asked "What are you looking at?" He realized he accidentally made her worry, possibly about nothing. What he saw were a part of forces that she could not understand, so he told her "I thought I saw something… but it might be that I just woke up." She nodded in understanding and told him "Well, goodbye then. I'll see you later." She turned to return to the farm, but he yelled, "Wait!" She turned her head and he said in complete sincerity, "Thank you… this means a lot." The farmer blushed and smiled, and the wizard saw a twinkle in her eye before she turned back. When she got far enough, he whispered "Why can't I bring myself to ask?"


	2. Chapter 2

He watched Molly make her way back to the farm after their encounter, then walked back indoors with Fugue Mushroom in hand. He conjured a glass case from broken telescope lenses to create a magically protected area for his new fungus. He placed it gently and enchanted the casing so no one can get to it without his approval. He stared down at his new fungus, thinking about what happened earlier, with the black shadow he had seen fly before him.

"It can't be Vivi, could it? Was she trying to be funny?"

Making sure his fugue mushroom was safe and secure, and after taking one last sip of his freshly brewed coffee he flicked his wrists and transported himself in front of a door in the swamp. Knocking three times apparently was not a good idea as he heard a boom within her little shack.

Vivi opened the door, glaring at him, her face black as soot. "Thanks for coming while I practiced arithmancy." He raised his eyebrows and asked "Did you curse the number three by accident?" The redness of her face expanded and her anger seemed ready to make everything around her explode. "Did YOU remember I forbade you from ever coming here?!" she shouted, making a vase behind her explode. "I couldn't sit idly by while you seem to want to torture the mortals." He quickly realized this was a mistake to interrogate her about, as she incinerated her door behind her.

"TORTURE THE MORTALS?! Are you crazy?! I could be killed if I even tried to display my magic! Do you even remember what happened last time?!" He quickly recalled the townsfolk of old attempting to burn her on a cross. "YOU can get away with it because YOU live in town, and YOU pass yourself off as a fortune teller! How dare you accuse me of something like that? You know my rule; I don't kill, even if they don't want to listen to that."

Of course she couldn't have made it, he thought. She hasn't gone to town in hundreds of years. Why would she put a spirit there now? "I only ask because earlier, a black shadow flew through the town, and seeing as how you and I are the only ones with capability of producing dark magic around here—" ,"So you accuse ME then? Did you even stop to think that MAYBE it's another force outside of here?"

"Of course I—", He didn't.

She stared at him with a mix of anger and righteousness, knowing perfectly well that he didn't. "Well, maybe you should find out for yourself. It's none of my concern, so leave before I make you."

He turned around, but before he could even think of transporting back to his home, he turned around and suggested to Vivi, "Maybe think of a number other than 3 to curse next time you practice arithmancy." With a flick of his wrist, he was gone, pretty sure he saw some trees incinerate.

Back home, he stared down his new mushroom, ready to study it and apply it to his studies, but before he could, he heard a voice calling for him. "Gale?" He turned around, thinking someone was at the door, but that was impossible, because no one in town knew his real name. He remembered the voice belonged to someone long ago; an old love. "Did I do something wrong, Gale?" The voice sounded teary and pained. "How could you do this, Gale?" so said his mother's voice. Images of when he first performed magic in front of his mother came back, remembering her shock, and her fear. "I didn't raise you like this!" said his father.

"You'll never amount to anything!"

"Freak!"

"Cur!"

"Vile product of the devil itself!"

"Wretched beast!"

Voices of old friends and townspeople and images of old wrought his mind. He closed his eyes and plugged his ears, wishing the pain and the voices would stop and the images would disappear. He could feel his heart break, and his eyes tear up, when suddenly he felt a force hit his chest.

He opened his eyes to a black cloud, like what he saw earlier, his chest aching, and he heard a bang from the wall coming from him as his back collided with the wall. The voices and images came back, louder and more vivid than ever, and with all the pain built upon him, suddenly, he knew no more.


	3. Chapter 3

The pain seemed to follow him even in limbo. All he could see around him were clouded images and all that he could hear were muffled voices. He felt like he was standing on a cloud, and tried to walk forward, only to be greeted by gravity sending him downward. Muddy images of his childhood followed him with sounds not trailing far behind. He looked around in absolute wonder of his mind until finally reaching the bottom, once again as if he collided with soft, cottony nothing. He stared forward with the only clear image he had seen staring him in the face. It was Molly. She was tending to her farm, brushing a cow and petting it, until she looked up. He couldn't see what she was staring at, but what proceeded was a soul-piercing shriek that was louder than anything he had heard so far and suddenly, the soft nothing he had been lying on finally turned into a solid something.

He shot like a dart, and looked forward, then side to side, then backward. He was back in his home. His head was pounding and the whole of his body ached. He crawled to his bed and waved his hands over where the pain located, experiencing a horrifying pain that lasted for a second and was gone in an instant. It took him five minutes of screams and waving to finally rid him of whatever sensations were crawling over his body, but to him it was an eternity. The window that he sat by while in the middle of his healing process had fooled him that other than what happened, circumstances were relatively normal, and realized how wrong the window was.

The sky above where Molly's farm was located was black, and he knew it couldn't be just a storm as it was blacker than any storm cloud he had ever seen in his life. It seemed too coincidental that such a cloud could be isolated to that one location. He attempted to transport to where Molly was, but only taken to the bridge in front of town. He tried to transport again, but as greeted with pain and shot backward to the location in front of the mayor's office. I guess I'll have to run, he thought, and so he did. He knew that whatever it was that was attacking her was the same thing that attacked it earlier because the same feelings of despair draped over him, but he focused on helping Molly. He sprinted to the farm, attempting to use magic to dissipate the evil cloud but the attempts to do so proved folly, as nothing was happening. Why isn't my magic working? he thought. What is this thing doing? Why is my magic ineffective? The sounds on the farm seemed as if it was a huge cyclone. He finally made it to the fields, but where was Molly? The cloud effectively blew the roof off her house, and she ran out in fear, but stopped immediately upon seeing Wizard.

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted to help him hear her. Before he could answer, she looked up and something was forming in the clouds. What formed was like a spike, a sharp , cloudy stalactite that was on a collision course in their direction. The farmer shrieked and held onto her shoulders as if to hide from the puffy stalactite, and he yelled "Stay behind me!"

This was it. His magic was of no use, so he could not provide a reliable form of protection. All he could do was be a human shield to the love of his life. It was his final sacrifice. It was time to die. He put up his hands and screamed

"NO!"


	4. Chapter 4

But death didn't come. It pushed and tried to force itself to the wizard, but it couldn't do it. He had closed his eyes before putting up his hands, but when he didn't feel anything, he looked upward and saw that he was keeping it at bay—with his magic! He looked behind, and saw that Molly was still holding on tight. He was determined to keep it away from her, and relieved that something within him still worked. He gathered whatever strength he could, and with one push, he forced the darkness off of them. He could hear a moan of pain from the cloud, and was ready to try something to keep it off of them for much longer.

He breathed heavily and looked to the skies. With whatever power he could muster, he raised his hands upward, knowing that he had the advantage now, and gave one big shout of "NO!"

A great purple beam emanated from his arms that was headed straight for the eye of the cloud. It made hideous shrieks and noises. The wizard and the farmer watched as it slowly began to dissipate, with the wizard feeling it slipping. Then, in an instant, it was gone.

The skies returned to their sunset colors. He didn't realize the darkness had taken him out for so many hours, but was relieved that it was gone, at least for now. He turned to Molly, who watched what had happened safely from the shelter of Wizard's back. She said, "Thank you" in a soft voice, still amazed by the kind of raw power he had seen emanate from what seemed to her a simple fortuneteller. She looked to her house, now roofless, and back to her. The wizard stared at her, a little amused by just how enchanted she seemed by the events that unfolded, but understood completely. He walked up beside her and said calmly "There's magic that can help fix your roof, too." She giggled, of course, assuming he meant it as a sly comment, but he meant it seriously.

He lifted each piece of the roof, no matter how big or small it was, and arranged it on the roof, hands waving and fingers working on the intricate details of the roof. When it seemed that it had finally been fixed, he turned expecting to see her enchanted face once again, but seeing nothing. At first, he was a little surprised, but understood why with one look. The roof of the barn had collapsed.

He ran in there after her and saw Molly on her knees, choking small sobs. There was blood leaking and a single hoof sticking out of the rubble. When he was knocked out, he saw her with that cow, and it looked happy. It seemed to be the only animal she wanted to own. He knelt down to reach her shoulders and told her sympathetically, "I'm sorry." She sniffled and tried to look away so he didn't have to see her cry, but he didn't care and put his arm across her shoulder. She looked at him, her eyes red and puffy with tears. He acknowledged it, but couldn't care less, and hugged her. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do. The sobs she tried so hard to fight were coming out louder, and it felt healthy. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could have done something." Her sadness was contagious, but he stayed strong. She let go of him gently, touching his shoulders instead. She made her best attempt to smile and stared at him while her eyes were still glistening with tears. "You did everything you could have done and more. You saved my life", she sniffled out.

"I can at least fix your barn roof, but we would have to go outside."

She looked at him and nodded with understanding, then turned her head toward what remained of the roof and whispered softly, "I'm sorry, Bessie."

They left the barn gravely, and the wizard prepared her barn roof as he did before. He walked inside and saw the mangled remains of the bovine corpse. He enchanted it so Molly couldn't see how Bessie looked and lifted it with his magic next to the barn, laying it down gently. He prepared a grave to properly pay her respects, and so they did, taking five minutes to say goodbyes.

She walked next to her house, and sat down, hugging her knees. It seemed the reality of everything that happened began to hit her, and not very well.

"You saved my life, so at least let me help you. I think you're going to do something to make sure whatever that… that… THING was… doesn't come back, and I want to help." He was obviously shocked by this, but before he could say anything, she said. "Please! I owe it to myself to gain some closure." "Are you sure it's closure that you want?" She replied, "Every living thing that has ever been on this farm has been family. That cow was family! I need to do something for that." He wanted to argue, but started realizing arguing was now pointless. "… and I think this affects me just as much as it does you. I think I'm the only one who could see it that doesn't have any magic powers. If that's the case, I need to fight it just as much as you." She made a fair point. It doesn't seem that any mortal would have seen it; otherwise, surely they would have come to help. The town respects her, and if they saw something like that, it would have led to some clamor. "Please, just let me come."

What he said went against every fiber of his being, but regardless, it was said. "Okay. But please, just follow my lead. I can't say with confidence, but I think I know what just attacked us."

He concluded, "We need to see the Harvest Goddess, Molly.


	5. Chapter 5

"Take my hand. I'll bring us there."

He offered his hand for her to take, but as he expected, Molly was reluctant. "Don't worry", he tried to assure her, "It's a lot safer than walking up there, and much quicker. I won't let anything happen to you." She was hesitant, but she took his hand timidly. He held on tight to assure she wouldn't be lost, and flicked his wrist.

They arrived to an area not far from the goddess spring. Wizard looked over to Molly, who was understandably shaken. He grinned a little, thinking back to his first time teleporting, and waited a little for her to find her bearings. She shook her head a little bit and walked forward, himself close behind.

Something's off, he thought. He saw piles of branches and stone, and there was a feeling in the pit of his stomach. An empty feeling, sort of hopeless and pitiful. He thought about his past. He remembered some times when he would sneak outside at night to practice magic away from the watchful eyes of the townspeople. His favorite place was the spring. It was a clear area where no one could see him, and the Goddess never minded. He remembered something vaguely about a statue. The statue was standing clearly, almost shining, and there was a blast from somewhere and all he could see was a reflection of fire emanating from the statue, and heard people yelling, "NO!"…

"Uh, Molly?"

She stopped and turned to him, "Yes?"

"Er, we should probably turn back…"

"Why?"

Good question, he thought.

"Er, well, it's- it's magic stuff, complicated magic stuff…"

He continued babbling magic speak and it seemed the more jargon he made up, the higher her eyebrows raised.

"The…the forces…of the, uh, nature, and the—the stars and alignment, and Jupiter and…we need to turn back."

She stared at him confused and turned around and continued forward, moving a branch blocking the path out of the way, only to find their plan doomed from the start. The Goddess lay down, her beautiful blue glow gone, and her hair grayed and the Harvest Sprites were stone figures. She rushed to the Goddess in an instant. What did it do to her, he thought? She went to her knees and tried to awaken her to no avail. He walked over to her. Molly begged, "Isn't there anything you can do?!" to which Wizard could only shake his head. "There is someone who might be able to do something…but he's farther away from here." Before he could finish, Molly said, "The Harvest King."

"Yes. He's—"

"He's on top of Garmon Mountain. Can you take us there?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and answered, "Yes, but it's a little more complicated than that." "Do what you can, Wizard", she said, and grabbed his hand readily. A drop of sweat dripped from his forehead, to which he turned his head away and flicked his wrist once more. They arrived at the entrance of Garmon Mountain Mines, and Molly seemed confused once again.

"He's located a little higher than this, you know", she joked. "I know, but… the mine interferes with my magic… there are minerals in there that affected me the last time I tried teleporting up the mountain…it took time to recover from that." He recoiled at the memory of what happened last time. Molly looked towards the runes inscribed on the mountain wall, but shook her hand. He agreed. The runes weren't good for him either.

"So, I guess this means we climb", she concluded.

"Climb?"

"Through the mine. It's not that bad, it's just a lot longer than using the runes, but I don't want to risk hurting you by taking them, and I don't want to leave you to climb up the mine by yourself." He nodded, and arrived to the same conclusion.

"We climb."

They entered the mines together. The sun was setting over the ocean nearby, and night was just about to set in.


	6. Chapter 6

For a while, they smashed through rocks, trying their best to make it through the caves. Although the minerals interfered with his ability, Wizard managed to create a light to carry through the cave after several tries. Because of the lack of reliability in his magic and a hammer, Molly used her hammer instead, serving the role of a path maker. He admired her and her strength; she would pound through the rocks effortlessly. He could feel her determination and impulse, powerful and inspiring to him, and probably to her too.

"So what do you intend to do?" he asked. "What do you mean? We're going to ask the Harvest King to help the Goddess."

"No, I know that, but I mean after she's helped." "I'm not going home yet if that's what you're implying", she responded, with a small grin on her face. "No, I know you need to come, but what do you intend to do to help with the attack?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"Well…" he quickly realized the error in asking the question. "It's just… well…-"

"I know I don't have any magic ability, but I can at least try to help. I don't know, maybe there's a purpose for me in this…" He started to see that it wasn't just helping them that she was talking about. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything about your usefulness. You've been helping ever since we got to this cave. Forgive me?" She smiled at him, not looking at where her hammer swung towards.

Red gas erupted like several volcanoes at once. He was quick to jump out of the way of the gas, but accidentally put out the light he had. He made several panicked attempts to recreate the light, finally coming back to success only to see Molly coughing and hacking, sprawled out on the ground. She tried to climb back up to her feet, only to watch her tremble and fall down again. He scrambled to his feet to grab her and hold her up. "Are you alright? Stay with me!" he exhorted. She tried to speak words of assurance, only hacking out more poisonous material. He started to rack his brain, looking for ways to protect her, finally looking towards her rucksack. He removed it quickly, opened the bag, and placed it some ways away from them.

He hoped and looked within himself, hoping this could work, flicking his wrists in multiple failed attempts. This might be too complicated in these circumstances, damn this cave, he thought. Please, for Molly…

One final flick of the wrist finally made something happen. The bag started to gradually grow to a size comparable to a small house, and thankfully, stopped right where he needed it to. He looked to Molly, who looked ready to pass out. He picked her up and carried it to her new house-sized rucksack. He laid her down gently, and she requested weakly, "Wizard, what's the time? I can't reach my watch." Behind him, without even asking, it was as if the cave uncovered a slim cover, as the night sky shined gently yet greatly behind him.

He walked out slowly; he was rarely in such proximity to the sky like this. It was a deep blue unlike anything he had seen in a long time. The stars were dotted all over, and the full moon was hanging brightly on the sky, as if someone placed it on a wall. "Wizard?" she inquired. "It's midnight, Molly." He could hardly remember anything; he was ready to stand and stare at the sky all night. He was in a catatonic stage, made with wonder and curiosity. He was like a child again, discovering space for the first time, like he was in a magical candy shop, but slowly, the cave put its slip back on, and the moon and stars started to hide behind it.

He was disappointed, but he knew there was a reason. He turned to Molly, smiling a little. He had found her in a stage of wonder for things that seemed so simple to him for a while; it was only fair she received her turn, he thought.

He kneeled down beside her, and she told him, "I wish I knew why the stars intrigue you so much…", and slowly drifted off to sleep. He pulled off his gown and draped it over her.

"I wish you knew too, Molly."


	7. Chapter 7

"Molly? Molly, wake up."

She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes trying to accustom to the darkness. "Wizard?" What happened? What time is it?" she inquired tiredly. "It's 6 AM. You were out for a while, so we went to sleep, but I couldn't quite" he answered calmly. "Why is it so dark? Are we still in the cave?" she inquired once again. "Oh, sorry", he apologized and flicked his wrist in an attempt to regain his light, but instead of a small light in his hand, several small lights appeared around the rucksacks walls, flickering on one by one. "It isn't quite what I wanted, but I think it'll do", he told himself, a little proud of himself. "Where are we? Is this…is this my rucksack?" she queried.

"Do you not remember?"

"Sort of; everything that happened after swallowing the gas is a little vague…"

"Yes, I enlarged your rucksack so you could have a comfortable place to rest. I wasn't sure what else to do, besides seeing if I could remove the material in you", he explained. "I see…" She crawled towards him, sat down next to him, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm sorry you had to worry about me. Normally, when I mine, I wouldn't let that happen."

"It's not your fault. I distracted you."

"You said you didn't get a lot of sleep. What do you mean?"

"Well, I tried to sleep when you did, but it was mostly restless. I'm not used to a lot of sleep, but I think the cave made it worse. I just sat outside the bag and looked at stars around 4 AM."

"We're in a cave."

"I know."

"If you're magic is weird, how were you able to see it?"

"I wish I knew. The cave uncovered itself for me and the sky was limitless. I watched the sunrise for the first time in a while. Usually, I'm asleep at around 4 AM."

She shrugged and told him, "We should keep going." He nodded in agreement and pushed the bag top open, letting her leave first. He looked towards it, a little unsure of how to handle her rucksack's size. "What's the matter? Aren't you going to shrink my rucksack?" He looked at her and answered, "Well, I would, but…I'm not sure…how to…" She snapped, "You blew up my rucksack and now you can't get it back?!" He felt his face burning and beseeched "Please don't be angry. I just really don't want to destroy your rucksack by accident."

She calmed down a little and countered with a forced gentleness, "Well, it'll be useless either way." He sighed and looked towards the bag, waving his hand downward to make it come back down. He felt like this was a feeble attempt before she shouted "You can do this. You've been a good wizard so far, so don't let some rocks get in your way." He breathed in deeply, trying again and again until finally, it started shrink until it became the normal rucksack she was used to. She walked towards it and placed it on her back once again. "Good job. We should move forward." She went for her hammer before Wizard intervened. "You know, you were really hurt yesterday…maybe I should hammer until we reach the top." She continued to it and picked it up, explaining, "Don't worry. I've dealt with poison gas before. Once I get rest, I can go back to service. Now, let's move."

He recreated the light he was used to and moved forward, following alongside as once again, she crushed each rock with the same determination that kept the operation moving. After what seemed like an hour, they finally made it to some light. They walked out the doorway and looked down the mountain.

He remembers this mountain, and this view. It was always magnificent, but the stairs always made him nervous. He was sort of taken aback by how easily Molly could just run up the stairs as he stayed behind, climbing up each stair calmly. He was relieved to see some fiery hair and his booming voice saying "Ah, Molly, it has been a while. Why do you come to me?" Once he finally made it to the top, he looked at the Harvest King in the eyes and told him telepathically…

"Ignis, it's been a long time."


	8. Chapter 8

"Gale, I have not seen you in some 200 years. Why do you come here with the mortal, Molly?"

"How do you know Molly?"

"She saved your precious town. Why it matters to you makes me curious. You have lived through dozens of towns. Why does this one matter so much to you?"

"Why does it matter to you what I think?"

Of course, this was taking place within their minds. Molly merely watched as it seemed to her that they stood there, staring at each other in silence. "I know I agreed with you to speak telepathically for the sake of privacy back then, but Molly is watching and this…seems rude."

"Rude? I am a God, and you are a powerful magic being; why should we care about human societal conventions?" He feels like he's had this conversation before, only with Vivi. "I know how you feel about humans, but this isn't just about the town. Ceria is hurt, Ignis." The King's eyebrows raised. "This concerns Molly as much as it concerns us, so can she please speak to you? I think I know what attacked her."

He turned to Molly, and inquired, "Do you have something to say?"

"Kind of, but I don't think there was enough silence", she joked.

Wizard and the King looked to each other and he admitted to him telepathically, "Is this mortal making a…joke, Gale? I do not like it." "It's a quirk; I rather like it."

Once again, he turned to her and asked "What do you need?"

"The Harvest Goddess has been hurt," said Molly. "We think it was the same black cloud that attacked us earlier—"

"Black cloud?!" With telepathy, he told Gale, "You did not tell me that it was the Plague!"

"Mortals shouldn't even know of the Plague, Ignis. I wasn't about to tell her what it was; I wasn't sure if she should know about the history."

"The fact that it attacked her is both a curiosity, and something that makes her worthy of knowing! I will take us to the Goddess."

In a blaze of godly fire, the king teleported the three of them to the Goddess Spring. She was in the same state she was in before. "Why do you never give detail in these situations?", he said aloud. The King walked to her while both of them stood back. Understandably, Molly was confused. "The King, the Goddess, and I have the ability to… communicate telepathically. We have a mutual respect for one another…it's a long story." Wizard walked forward to help him, and Molly joined. The King worked with his fire, waving it over her body, and Wizard used his blue fire to help. "I do not know…this does not look like she will have a good outcome."

"The island needs both of you to keep living, Harvest King. We need to try."

Molly took the Goddess' shoulder, wishing she could do something. But as she closed her eyes, she noticed something. Wizard and the Harvest King stood up, watching as her blue glow started to return slowly. "Goddess?" she asked feebly. The Harvest Sprites lost their stone form, returning to their regular form, making little screams and stopping in an instant, looking around and watching as the Goddess arose. Molly helped her upward, and the Goddess looked down to her and told her with true sincerity, "Thank you." She turned towards them and asked the two of them aloud, "Was this the doing of all three of you?"

The king tried to correct her "Do you mean the two of us?"

"No, the three. I felt three presences within me. But this is not the time. There's a more important task at hand."

She moved to telepathy and told both of them…

"The Plague is back, and it is far worse than before."


	9. Chapter 9

"Molly, do you know of the Plague? It seems like a swirling cloud of darkness, but it is much worse. It is misery, fed by sorrow, anger, and fear. The four of us have fought it once before, but that was hundreds of years ago. I cannot explain why it is here now, nor can I explain how it could have come to this point," explained the Harvest Goddess.

"Was the fourth person Witch Princess? I wonder why she isn't here now."

"Says you!" so said a familiar voice.

Witch Princess strode in gracefully, and with a firmness. She clearly had a purpose for being here, but no one knew what it was. "While you two were off on some big adventure, the Plague came to my forest! It destroyed everything in the perimeter. A few mortals were hurt too." Molly turned, with her hand on her mouth. Wizard was sure she was thinking of the Horn Ranch farmers. He wanted to comfort her, but there was business that needed to be taken care of at that moment. "But, why are you here, Molly? How do you even know about the Plague?"

"It tried to kill me."

The three of them looked at her, the Harvest Goddess, the Witch Princess and the Harvest King a little dumbfounded. "If it weren't for Wizard, I wouldn't be talking to you all right now."

"Is this true, Gale?" asked the Goddess telepathically. "Yes, but I don't know why it happened or how. All I knew was that she was in danger."

"We could surely use the help in this," said Witch Princess aloud, "Who knows? Maybe this mortal's got something in her that could help." "I agree that we need more force, but can a mortal like her help?" asked the King aloud. "We cannot know unless we try. Let us see if we can find help within the earth like before." After saying it, the Goddess moved her arms so they could meet above her head, palms outward, her blue glow becoming eminent and pushing her arms down, revealing two caverns with two different stair steps. "Wizard, Harvest King, take the left entrance and see if the pocket of Happite can be of use. Witch Princess, Molly, come with me." Wizard intervened with, "Uh, shouldn't Molly… come with us?" The King responded, "I see no reason to bring the mortal with us. She will probably be more useful to the Goddess to than you and I." He sighed and looked at Molly as the three of them went down their entrance, and he followed the Harvest King into theirs.

The Harvest King's hair served as a bright source of light, so he did not need to create one. He used their privacy to ask, "Ignis, since we're in privacy, may we speak aloud now?"

"I see no reason why not."

"Do you think… you could ever fall in love with a mortal?"

A great big bout of booming laugh was released. It could have shaken the cave if there was any more force in the laughter. "Love is not for Gods, especially not with mortals! No, mortals of obsessed with their feelings of 'love' and 'affection'. We only feel trust with those who are worthy. Why else do you think we do not speak of our names to anyone besides other Gods and Goddesses and your kind of witches and wizards?"

"What about Molly?"

"No, Molly has some sort of prowess about her. I feel if I knew her better, maybe I could share that information. You could tell her, Gale. I sense you two have a special bond. It must be that piece of humanity your kind is born with that makes those feelings."

Wizard went to thinking, thinking about Molly, thinking about how much Molly has trusted him, and how little he has told her, despite how much he trusted her. He regretted not telling her of the Plague in the first place. He felt as though he let some sort of pride for not quite being a mortal clouded his judgement in this case. "Do not feel bad, Gale. I would not be so eager to tell a mortal of that information either if I did not know the circumstances," said the Harvest King. He had no idea why he tried to have private thoughts in front of a God, but he went to ask aloud "Do you think that what we're doing here will work?"

"We have nothing else to use here. I can only hope this will work."

The three women walked on the other side. Her blue aura was not quite bright enough to fill the area with light like the Harvest King could, so Witch Princess made a light of pink fire, walking ahead as she wanted to get there first. "How long ago did this Plague come?" inquired Molly. "It was sometime around 200 years ago. Wizard would have been close to 100 years old when we fought it." Molly was shocked. He certainly did not seem like he was 100 years old. He hardly seemed like he was her age. "Yes, witches and wizard have an amazing quality in their immortality, almost like us gods, only we are far older."

"Was there a wizard that came before him?"

"Oh, yeah there was," yelled Witch Princess from ahead, "and no one was quite thrilled with his magic. It was burn city, Molly. I know the feeling. If the wizard we know now didn't get me out of it, I would have ended up just like the last one."

"It was a very long time ago, Molly. It was during a much darker time than now. It is why I am curious about this Plague. It is far more powerful than the last one we dealt with, and it concerns me. I do not think it originated on Castanet."

"Where exactly does it come from?" asked Molly.

"Emotion is a very powerful magic, Molly. In places where there is no magic, it is merely a feeling and nothing more. However, on islands where magical presence is nearby, it is something that can construe into a form. Where there is happiness and love and trust, there is a good magic, a magic that can only be beneficial. However, where there is anger, fear, and sorrow, there is a bad magic, one that spreads chaos and destruction, trying to destroy any source of good. You cannot get rid of one or the other, as that would mean there would be no more free will. However, one can dominate the other, and in this case, the balance between them is skewed.

"The first Plague we fought came that 200 years ago, when Castanet was a darker place. There was fear of magic, fear of powers that could control them and fear of one another, fear of what will happen to them when they die. People were angered by the authority that ruled over them, a cruel and authoritative government. It was a time when enlightenment was near, but not there yet. During that time, by no fault of our own, the Plague was starting to form, feeding off of the negative energy the town provided. Once it was satisfied, it started attacking townsfolk, and the four of us came to call. We used Happite and Gledium to help Witch Princess create a special brew to fight it—"

"And it WORKED! It's why I'm as good at magic as I am now", interrupted Witch Princess.

"Yes, it worked. We used our force to fight it off, and we never saw it again. With the Plague no longer making the people upset, they could finally overthrow their government. Enlightenment touched the people, and soon, stigma of magic wore off, a lot due to the belief that it is not real. However, this did not feel like it was concentrated by us. It felt like something else, as if there was more… feeling to it. I wonder…"

She went into her thoughts, leaving Molly in silence. She started having a theory: what if the magic came from somewhere else? But where?

Both teams finally reached the bottom of the cave, but the moment they all landed feet, Wizard, Witch Princess, and the Harvest Goddess said aloud and telepathically…

"This won't work."


	10. Chapter 10

"What won't work?" asked Molly aloud.

"But it has to work," said the Harvest King aloud and telepathically, "we have nothing else to use on this island!"

"Meet us at the top, you two," ordered the Harvest Goddess to the team of two men, "and I can explain properly."

The king knew perfectly well what she meant by properly: so Molly could understand. It frustrated him that Molly could not communicate with them in that manner to make things simpler. The Goddess could feel his annoyance and it made her realize something. "Molly, where is Finn?" Molly shrugged her shoulders and responded, "He said he had to tend to business for you, and that he'd be back soon. That was two days ago, and I wanted to ask you about him, but it seemed like a bad time to try." The Goddess said with some positivity, "That is what I thought. You saw how my sprites all turned to stone when I was attacked, correct?" Molly nodded. "That is because I sensed something was wrong, but I could not figure out. When danger comes and I am hurt, the sprites turn into stone if they are still on my island. Finn is the only one capable of leaving the island due to his wings and helpful spirit, so in order to protect you and Finn, I sent him somewhere else to make sure another Goddess was all right. I can try to call him back, but I cannot say for sure if he will. I should have noticed the moment you came, and I am sorry that I did not."

"I understand, Goddess. If you can try to get him back, I would appreciate it. I miss him, but everything that's happened so far has kind of made me…lose track. I feel bad for not trying harder."

"Do not worry. But let us make haste to the top so we can get him back. I have a feeling this could make things a lot of easier for us."

They trudged up the steps again, with Molly asking why they couldn't just teleport upward and she explained, "Molly, I am not quite in a state where I can do that so easily. It has a lot to do with darkness attacking a being like I; anything else and I could bounce back fine. I have to recover, so my magic is limited." She nodded and begrudgingly climbed the steps with her before a fire swept them up and they found themselves at the top. "I understand, Ceria" the Harvest King told her telepathically. She went behind her tree towards the open world and placed her hands on her heart. "Finn, hear my words: Molly and I need you on Castanet again. Return to us." She kissed her hands, and blew the message away in a blue light, going off towards the direction of the sun. It took a few moments before eventually you could hear a shrill, shrieking voice squealing something in the distance. As it came closer, they could hear "GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS". It seemed much clearer that Finn had returned, and when he did, he went straight for a hug by the Goddess, and said "Hi" in a small voice.

The Goddess held him like a child, and he told her how scared he was on the island. "I lost connection with you and I was worried. I didn't know if you were hurt or something, but a promise is a promise so I stayed. It didn't look too good, Goddess. It was dark and scary, and a lot of things were destroyed. The Goddess on that island was hurt, but no one could do anything. I was scared, and I was really glad when I could feel you again, but you didn't call me back, so I waited and waited..." Finn went on about the island and his duty to it. When he finished, the Goddess told him "Finn, you lost connection with me because I too was attacked by the same thing that destroyed that island. If it were not for Molly, Wizard, and the Harvest King, you would still be there. I should not have sent you off, but I did not want you to turn to stone. But now, you're back, and Molly needs you, and I need you with Molly."

"Yes, Goddess!"

He flew gleefully back to Molly's side and told her "I missed you. I could have used a buddy."

"Me too, Finn. You missed a lot here."

"Explain the details to him later, Molly. Now why are we back here? Why did the three of you reject the plan?"

"Finn, I am going to say these things telepathically. I want you translate to Molly."

As she transmitted her thoughts, Finn kept up amazingly well. "The Happite and Gledium will not be enough for this. It is far stronger than before, and Finn coming back from that island confirmed a hypothesis: this is not just our Plague, but the Plague that has combined from the feelings of the world. It spread amazingly quickly, and we need something far stronger than a potion with those minerals. I cannot say what, but I have a feeling that it can be helped by restoring the islands that the Plague is feeding on, but not yet destroyed. Those towns were like ours before Molly came along to restore and ring the bells."

"That was Molly?" Wizard asked, shocked by the revelation.

"Yes. I asked her to do it."

"She is also the reason I am here. After the bells had been rung, she climbed up to my throne and restored my power. I watch over the town with…the Goddess. But you do realize, Goddess, that if those islands are to be restored, neither you nor I can help."

"I do… Harvest King… but the three of them are not limited to this island."

"Now, hold on," Witch Princess demanded aloud. "I'm not going anywhere until my forest is at least on the path to healing!"

The Goddess turned to her. "I concur. That forest is an important source of magical life, and we will need all the help we can get. We will help your forest, but in exchange, you must follow Wizard and Molly to the islands without question."

"Deal. Just help my forest."

"Harvest King, do you think you could take us there?"

A fire swept them up again, just as it had before, and brought them to where the entrance to Fugue Forest should have been. Molly's eyes were damp with tears when she saw what had happened. Horn Ranch had been destroyed. The remains of the old farmhouse where she bought her first calf were shattered, and the barn was merely a shell of its former self.

"Before you have a nervous breakdown, your humans are safe", explained Witch Princess. "They're in that thing you call a clinic. I…kind of brought them there…"

Wizard stared at her in shock. "What a… incredibly selfless thing to do…"

She blushed with embarrassment and snapped back with "Well, it probably would have been a royal pain in the ass for me if I didn't. All the questions and stuff…"

Wizard smiled at her and Molly choked out, "Thank you."

"Don't expect me to be so helpful to the other mortals, the ones that aren't like you. You're different; I can trust you."

The Goddess and the king looked to each other and she asked "Shall we dance?"

"If you insist."

They walked into the forest area and took each other in a dance position. "Music, please," she asked. Wizard flicked his wrist and a record player with a waltz by Strauss in the record area appeared before him. He placed the needle on the record and strings played their waltz. They moved intricately and gracefully, and looked happy to see each other for once. Their rhythm with one another was incredible and well-practiced; nothing seemed clumsy and awkward about it. They spun around and were in the air, the king holding the Goddess in her arms as he tilted her backwards, and they spun and spun until reaching a great distance. A symphony of red fire and blue sparkle came together in front of their eyes and it placed itself gently on the ground. As they moved and danced, it spread itself across the ground, and instantly, the life of the forest could be felt again. The grass that could be seen through the color was already greener than the dead yellow and brown that was there before. Saplings appeared, and life was starting to return once again before finally, they settled down at the end of the waltz and the fire and sparkle spread across the area of not only the forest, but the two ranches were once again green and lush. Although the structures were still destroyed, it was indeed a lot better than what was there. In response, Molly gave them applause and Wizard joined her, and the Goddess smiled and bowed, while the Harvest King did nothing as he did not understand why she was applauding a ritual.

Wizard and Witch Princess had come together to fix the barn and home, at least on the surface. Molly turned and asked, "What was that dance?" The Goddess answered, "It is a way that we are able to restore life in large quantities. It's a better routine if darkness was involved. We completed that ritual after the first plague attack."

"Molly, come see this," Wizard yelled from the distance at the barn, "I think you'll be pleased!"

She ran towards them and looked inside. She saw a baby calf feeding off her mother. "I think their farm will be okay", he said. Molly was overwhelmed with joy, and wiped tears off her face. "We should leave this to Horn Ranch. We have things to attend to." Wizard nodded and looked to Witch Princess, saying, "They healed your forest. It's time to go."

"All right, Mr. Wizard." They left the barn and went to the Goddess. "Goddess, can you tell us where it is?" In that instant, he received an image and heard the name "Waffle Island. They have their own person to help, but it would certainly help if you could secretly help. I do not quite know how the town would react to you three showing up, so it would be best if you operated in secret."

The three of them nodded, and Witch Princess made her broom appear in front of her. "Bet you can't beat me there!" She hopped on and left the island in a flash. Wizard rubbed his temples and looked to Molly, telling her, "Don't worry. I have… my own way to get us there. Follow me." They walked towards the beach near her house and looked out towards the ocean. "If only this was during night… it could have been faster. I guess I'll…have to deal with it." He lifted up enormous piles of sand with levitation, waving around his arms and making the sand solid. At first, it appeared like soft earth, but slowly, it transformed into something better, more solid; it became metal. It appeared to be like a boat, but with railing. He placed it down gently into the ocean and hopped in. "I can help you in… if you want." He held out his hand, which she took gratefully and went into the boat. "Have a seat and hold on tight." She sat down and held on just as she was told and in an instant, the boat moved at a fast pace. She watched as the island slowly looked farther and farther away. In one way, she was excited to go on the adventure, but in another, she was sad to leave a place she felt like she just came to.

"It'll be a while until we come back, won't it, Wizard?"

"I think so, Molly… but I think it'll be worth it."

They looked towards the horizon and with his magic, Wizard turned the boat to the direction of Waffle Island.


	11. Chapter 11

It had been hours since they set sail for Waffle Island. She could see why Pascal found beauty in the sea. There were some great sights. It seemed as though there was something new everywhere, and there were sea creatures abound. They spent the time looking around, playing with Finn, using Finn to check on the Harvest Goddess in case the Plague came back while they were gone, and seeing the world that had once been uncharted territory to them. Wizard had fears of this new unknown that made him nervous, but Molly's excitement calmed him down. It was about 6:00 PM when she started asking some questions to him.

"So what's stopping us from transporting over there, Wizard?"

"A lack of knowledge… Neither of us know what the island really looks like."

"Can't you look at it with your visions?"

"Not without ever being there and not without my crystal ball… I need a gauge of the magic there… from the sound of things, I don't think there's much… it's why I can see Castanet so vividly… I've lived there all my life…"

Hearing what the Goddess had told her about how old Wizard was when he fought the first Plague with them really made his statement that he lived there all his life much more impactful. If he was 100 when he fought it 200 years ago, she thought, imagine what he's lived through since. She said before the Plague came, it was an authoritative land, but what was it like? Did he have friends? Were his loved ones good people? Was he ever married? How many loved one's funerals has he been to? Will he live to watch me die too? Is he reading my mind, listening to these thoughts as I make them, she thought. Outside of her mind, Wizard was trying his best not to read her mind for the sake of her privacy, but found it much harder to when she is the only other person around, but found relief when he was distracted with something.

"Hey! Up here!"

They looked up and found Witch Princess riding on her broom nonchalantly. "This is your solution, Wizard? Magical metallurgy? If you ask me, you should have invested in a broom," she yelled from above, "I'll give you credit for your speed though! You're going as fast as I can!" Wizard grinned and yelled, "Thanks! I'll be sure to make improvements!"

"Hey, by the way, Molly, yeah, he can read your thoughts!" Wizard wore a face of pure shock from her admitting that. "What? We both can! I'm used to it! Back when I was kid, ladies kept their thoughts in all the time! He's trying to be respectful by trying to block you out, but I could care less! Your thought process is fascinating!"

Molly placed her hands to her mouth in embarrassment, and Wizard yelled, "Did you agree to come just to embarrass me?!"

"You'd think so, but no! Now, come on! The sun is setting, we're not getting there today, and not even you can keep it up forever! I think I see a small island we can settle down in, so let's go!" She picked up speed and started for the island, and Wizard picked up speed on his boat made of magic.

He was not very well practiced in alchemy as he did not strive for gold, which is usually what is taught to witches and wizards who want to enter the field, but he has studied chemistry and understood magical metallurgy enough to transmute the quartz, mica, feldspar and silicon dioxide in the sand into metals that could make a solid alloy that was lightweight and ready for the forces of the sea. He did not expect that he would have trouble anchoring his newly made boat as the materials that he was able to pull out of the dirt on the island would have made the anchor too heavy and stressful for the boat and it would sink.

"Having troubles with your magic boat? I told you long ago you should have learned to fly a broom", Witch Princess teased as she stood on the island while the other two were stuck in their boat. "At the very least, let me give you a better idea." She made a post out of some wood near the trees. "We can't mess with the nature of this place too much. We don't know what could happen to this place because of magical interference", lectured Wizard. "You're the one trying to make an anchor out of the dirt." He sighed and returned the dirt to the island. He moved his arms in clockwise and counter-clockwise movements and created two rings. He threw one to the post Witch Princess made, and put another in a small hole where the rope for the anchor was placed. "Tighten", he ordered the rope, and the large ring that was once too big fit perfectly around the post. With a flick of his wrist, it extended a part of itself to him and ordered the other ring to tighten again to the hole in the boat. "Connect", he ordered the rope and so it did, creating a chain. Witch Princess lifted some of the rock and sand from the rocky shore to create a walkway. "Quit fooling around and get up here!"

Wizard allowed Molly to go first, holding her hand to guide her off the boat. "Oh my, chivalrous, aren't we?" she said mockingly. "We should set up camp now." Wizard suggested, clearly annoyed. "Well, while you were playing around with metallurgy, I found the perfect campsite, if you'll follow me." He followed her, then noticed something was missing. "Where's Molly?"

"Head's up!"

An apple fell from the sky and Wizard paused its descent. It floated in the air unassuming. Molly was atop the tree, and shouted, "Cool! Keep doing that. There's some food on these tree that we're going to need for the night."

"Smart idea!" yelled Wizard.

"Dumb Principal Exceptions. I wish we could just make our own food." Witch Princess complained. Well, I'm going to the campsite. Transport with our link once you two are done scavenging." She walked away before Molly suggested, "You know, if you could use your magic to bring back some fish, it would help." She turned and looked at her incredulously. "Are you nuts? Hunting is _beneath_ me."

Wizard told her, "You need to give your fair share. We're in this together. Especially now… now that you don't have a home to go back to. Not even…a forest." Witch princess scowled at him, and walked away, fuming. "That was a little harsh, Wizard."

"She needed to hear it. Believe me."

They found fruits and berries to bring back, and Wizard retrieved firewood from a fallen tree. He held her and transported to where Witch Princess was located, and were shocked to find fish in a bag. "Are you happy? Huh?"

"We are, believe it or not." Wizard responded. "Thank you."

"Whatever," she said, "just for what you said earlier, I'm telling Molly embarrassing stories about you."

"As long as we get a fire going first, so we can eat" said Molly, grinning. Wizard grabbed his temples, shaking his head, and set down the firewood.

Witch Princess lifted some parts of the ground so they could have places to sit, and Wizard started a purple fire. They grilled fish and prepared food with the fruit they picked. After they finished, Molly began listening to Witch Princess tell stories about Wizard. "So one time, there was a girl in the village he liked, but he wasn't quite sure how to approach her. He tried to imagine a situation when he was a few feet away from her, but accidentally made it real, and the situation ended with them kissing romantically, but he ended up kissing the real girl instead, so the girls beat him away from her and guided her away. The poor thing was crying of embarrassment." Wizard was sweating and his heart was beating. "Oh, there's another time when he didn't know how to control his magic, and he was angry at his aunt and made her face covered with hives, but had no idea why it happened. He cursed the reason why it happened, so his face was covered in them too. Let me show you what it looked like." In an instant, a fog was made, and a very young Wizard's face appeared, covered with hives. That's what he looked like back then, Molly thought. "What did he look like before?" Molly asked. She pulled up another image of him smiling. He had black hair and a very young face, and wore old timey clothes. "Wow" exclaimed Molly. "Witches and wizards age pretty well, don't we? Well, anyway, once he realized he was the reason, we spent weeks getting them off of him, and that was the moment I really got to know him since before that, I was 6 years older than him, so I didn't talk to him much. Him being a wizard helped with that" she finished.

"How well it worked out, too" he said sarcastically. "Oh, lighten up. We're here now, aren't we?" she reminded him. "After 50 years… you forbade me to speak with you."

"A small tiff. Anyway, I'm bushed." She transfigured her seat into a tent with a bed in it, and walked in. "Goodnight!" she called. "I suppose that means we should get some sleep too," Molly said, "it is getting dark; can you help set up my tent?" He too transfigured their seats and created two tents for the two of them, both with beds in them. Molly was about to walk in before noticing that Wizard was not going to bed. "Aren't you going to sleep now? We have a long day ahead." Wizard answered, "I will, but I want to… check some things out first. Goodnight, Molly. I'll… see you in the morning." Molly wished him a good night as well and walked into her tent. He put out the fire, and walked out of the campsite, ready to transport to the campsite when he needed.

He walked to the shore, entered his boat and lied down. He wanted to stare at the stars at it was the perfect time. It looked close to 10 PM to him, so it was the perfect time of night to him. The moon was starting its climb to the top and the stars were coming into view. He gazed at Orion's belt, and Venus was shining brightly. It was a moment like this where he wished he had his telescope, but it was far too big to bring. He started thinking about space, and about life on it. I wish I could just fly through space and see it all, but the stars won't let me, he thought, and then Molly wouldn't let me either, or really, I couldn't let myself leave Molly. Would she miss me? Would she even think about me? I think I would think about her. I'd miss her too much. I'd wish I could bring her with me. It'd be great. The two of us going through space, exploring the universe together, where time would be merely a concept. I could just hold on to her and we could escape humanity forever… but I don't know if she'd want that. She likes Earth a lot. She'd probably be miserable, cold and only having me in space. Who would only want me? I couldn't blame her. I probably wouldn't want to be lonely. It's not like the stars are letting me anyway. I guess I can settle with my telescope, as I have. But I don't want to sit alone in that lab. I'd want someone to be there, particularly Molly. She wouldn't want to leave her farm though… maybe I could live there, if she loved me. If she swore her love, then I could have company and my research… but does she even love me?

His thoughts were interrupted by a thunderous sound. He sat up sharply, looking around. He wasn't sure what to do if it was the plague. He retreated to the island, preparing a beam of magic in case it wanted to come for revenge. He looked up, trying to find it before hearing something far worse…

"WILL YOU STOP THINKING ABOUT MOLLY AND THE UNIVERSE AND GO TO SLEEP?!" Witch Princess shrieked. "I can't sleep with your dumb thoughts going in my mind! You want Molly, you tell her your feelings, but that's not going to happen, and until it does, stop THINKING ABOUT HER!"

"You should learn to block people's thoughts. It'll help you sleep better at night"

"Look, I don't care if you stare at your dumb stars all night. Just stop thinking so loud. Ugh…"

She walked away annoyed. He knew she was right; the only way he could truly know is to tell her his feelings and see if she shares them, but he can't now. Not with the task at hand. He looked up to the stars, sighed, and teleported back to his tent.


	12. Chapter 12

He teleported towards his tent and overheard a conversation in Molly's tent. "I don't know, Finn. Just… everyone's so… able to do stuff, and I'm kind of… useless." Wizard walked closer to the tent.

Finn told her, "I don't think you're useless. You're a very strong person!" She paused a little and said, "I appreciate the sentiment, but you and I have known each other for years. Have you seen what they've been able to do in just the past day? Wizard built a boat out of sand. Sand! All I could do was sit there and watch. I tried to help by getting apples, but… Witch Princess just caught a ton of fish and made our seats. Wizard made our tents, with beds. All I could do was sit by and just… I don't know. They're so amazing and cool, and I'm…"

Wizard frowned; he was sad to hear she felt like that. He remembered her determination in the mines, and how strong she was going through the cave while all he could do was carry a lamp, even after she inhaled the poison gas. He didn't think she was useless.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Molly, but I don't think the others felt like that… maybe Witch Princess, but only to a certain degree." He heard her giggle a little. "I don't know. I'm just happy to talk about this with someone, you know? I don't think I could really tell this to Wizard. He's so great and amazing, and I wouldn't want him to feel like I don't appreciate him." He smiled at that; he thought the same thing about her. "I don't think he would, Molly; he's your friend… right?" He could feel his heart racing. Was he only a friend to her? "Good night, Finn. I'll talk to you in the morning." His heart sank; what did that mean, he thought, does she like me as a friend, or something else? He went into his tent, ready to get some sleep.

Some hours passed before Molly woke up with a start. She looked around before hearing a blood curdling scream. "Finn, can you go see who's screaming?" she requested, worried that it was Wizard making the screams. He flew out in an instant and looked into the next tent, and as suspected, he was screaming in his sleep. He flew around him, shouting "Wizard! Wizard! Wake up!" and flying into him with third blow finally waking him. He seemed dazed, and was worried about something. "You were having a nightmare, I think. You were screaming." He could feel his heart beating and a cold sweat on his forehead. "Are you all right? It scared me and Molly." Before he could answer, Witch Princess walked in and yelled, "First, you think loud, then you dream loud, and now you scream in your sleep?! What's the matter with you?!" Wizard and sighed and apologized. "I can't even remember what I dreamed about."

"I do. Guess who it was about?" she taunted. "Shh, please! Not now."

"Whatever," she said, "just be a better sleeper."

Before she left, Molly walked in and announced, "It's sunrise. Should we make breakfast?" Wizard looked surprised and Witch exclaimed, "What?" and stormed out of the tent to see the sun on the horizon. "Damnit!"

Wizard walked out and asked, "Molly, could you catch some fish for breakfast? We could use it for breakfast." Molly looked at him, a little confused, and answered, "Okay. Come on, Finn. I think I still have my fishing pole." She and her little sparkle walked off towards the shore, while Wizard grabbed a bag. "Where are you off to?" she asked. "I'm going to look for fruit. Do you want to come?" She chortled and said, "I don't want to, but I will, lest you try to lecture me again."

Molly sat at the shoreline, fishing pole in hand and Finn flying around with ease, flying by the fish and pointing to them. "Here's one!" He flew to another. "Here's one!" One more he flew to. "Here's one!" She was laughing and enjoying the time. The sun was rising steadily and reflected across the water, and the sky was pink mixed with blue. "I can't believe we have to leave this," said Molly, "it's so beautiful here."

"Think of it this way, we're going somewhere better."

She realized something important. "I don't know, Finn. Maybe we are, but… I have no idea what we're going to do when we get there." She pulled out the third fish caught and went to preparing it. "I know that we have to help whoever's on Waffle Island restore it, but I don't know how we're going about it." Finn floated gently, looking at her, as usual out of an answer. "I guess you'll just have to wing it."

"I'm not good at winging things."

They continued to play with the fish, watching the sunrise, and catching fish until she caught just enough fish for breakfast. Of course, the worry was still in the back of her mind, but there was nothing she could do. Maybe I'll talk to them about it, she thought, and we can figure something out. They took their haul and walked back to the campsite, where she found Witch Princess and Wizard at odds.

Her hands were glowing a pink glow, and she was fuming. Wizard kept yelling, "I don't want to fight you!" She shot blasts of magic while he strategically avoided each one. "You always thought you were so perfect! You always thought you were so smart! Well, guess what?! I'm just as good as _you_!" He kept hiding behind trees, desperately trying to avoid conflict. "Where are you even getting this from, Witch Princess?! What are you talking about?!" She growled and shot a ray of magic that made the tree hiding him explode. He teleported before it exploded to another location. Before she could try to shoot him again, Molly cried out, "What are you doing?!" She turned around and looked at her with confusion, unaware that a blast of magic was moving towards her quickly. It hit Molly in the chest, and it felt like the force that hit her chest spread across her body, leaving a pain that felt like a mixture of electrocution and burning in fire.

Molly fell to the ground in a fetal position, shivering in pain. Witch Princess walked towards her, spewing out a slew of apologies, and tried to prepare her magic to heal, but wasn't sure how to. "Move out of the way!" demanded Wizard, landing on his knees, ready to tend to her. He waved his arms around her body with a purple glow. Witch Princess was stammering, "I… I didn't… it just… I…" Wizard glared at her, with tears in his eyes. She ran off somewhere and Wizard continued to heal her.

"Stay with me. Molly, please stay with me. Finn, help me keep her awake." He flew around her face so something could distract her, and keep her conscious. He kept going, looking for every organ impacted by the shot. He knew about that particular shot, and how badly it could end up for her life if she were hit hard enough. He had to repair every last tissue and make it to every vital organ. He was stressed, and she was in horrible pain. She could feel his repairs running through her body. It was a tingling sensation that affected her chest and stomach in particular. He knew the tissue repair was complete, and all that was left was to have the magic released from her body. "Molly, cough for me." She did so, and all she could see was pink dust leaving her mouth. He made a sigh of relief, and asked, "Do you feel better?" She forced herself up and told him, "I'm never leaving you two alone again." He smiled at this, and started to laugh, but a joyous laughter of relief and hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay." She smiled and hugged him back. After a minute, she pulled back gently, and asked, "Why did that start in the first place?" He answered, "We have a long history together… some of it isn't pretty…"

"I guess not talking to each other for half a century doesn't help. I should go talk to her."

"I'll come with—"

Before he could finish, they both look at each other and he said, "I'll stay here. Let me take you near her."

He held her hand and in an instant, Molly was taken in a purple swirl and she was near the shore where just a few moments ago, she was having the time of her life with Finn. She was sitting in Wizard's magic boat, looking into the water. After he transported back to the campsite, Molly walked up to the shore, close enough to the boat, and asked, "Are you okay?" Witch Princess looked up and said, "He's good, isn't he?" before muttering under her breath, "Pompous jerk."

"I don't understand why things happened between you two like that. What did he say?"

"It's always been like this. I thought I could deal, but he's always lecturing me. As if I don't know that I should study. I don't want to, but I know I should. I don't want to hear about it, but then he always acts like he's so much better when we talk." Molly was a little lost; he never seemed like the guy who would think he's better than someone. He always seemed reserved…

"He tried to lecture me on my technique when we were getting apples, saying that I need to 'hold my wrists at a curved angle' and 'the hold won't last that way; hurry and put it in the bag'. It's annoying. I lived for longer than him, but because he does nothing with his life but study, he thinks he's better than me. So I glare at him and ask, 'Do you want to get them down?' so he hands me the bag. He gets it down as _perfect_ and _graceful_ as he usually gets it, so I levitate it up like he did, and once it got in, I lost hold and all the apples fell to the ground. I knew exactly what he was going to say and… I lost it. I exploded—quite literally exploded—and knocked him back to the campsite…" Molly could only sit there and listen. She didn't really know the dynamic of the relationship. She couldn't counsel very well. "I… I didn't mean… to hurt you, Molly. I'm… I'm sorry." She seemed legitimately upset with her actions. "I know it was an accident. I forgive you." Witch Princess seemed shocked by this. "He holds everything so personally. I thought… I thought you would too." Molly smiled and suggested, "Maybe you should talk to Wizard now, sans magic." She stood up and said, "Yeah, you're right. He's going to be so condescending about it." She took Molly's hands and in a pink swirl, they were both back at the campsite.

"Wizard, I have a proposition for you." Wizard seemed attentive enough, sitting in the seat where his tent once was located. "I want to say this, so you and Witch Princess can avoid conflict in the future; she's going to tell you something, and when you do, you say nothing more." He hesitated, but nodded his head, and stood up. "Wizard… I'm… I'm…" She groaned and levitated a fish to make it say, "I'm sorry". He looked at her hands and let her know, "You're using the proper technique." He smiled, and she did too. "Let's eat, so I can fly and you can set sail. Molly didn't spend hours catching fish for nothing."

"It wasn't hours… was it?" she asked Finn. He shrugged. Wizard prepared her tent to turn back into a seat, and ate. For once, it didn't feel too tense at the fire. There was talking, and laughter that came at the expense of no one. It was during this time that they finally formulated a plan of action.

"So, here's the deal: we're going to be invisible, me and Wizard, because they don't have a witch and wizard on that island, but you won't, so we'll have to cloak you. Once we get there, we're going to look for the nearest forest, and camp out there. The person has to believe they're doing this on their own. Restoring Castanet wouldn't have worked so well for you if you knew someone else was doing all the work. It has to be whoever is handling this. The three of us are just secretly there for the secret magic, and to assist… secretly." Molly nodded as she chowed down on the final fish. She pulled her broom towards her, and said, "See you guys there. If I get there before you, let me know so I can teleport you." She hopped on, and went on her way. "Let's set sail."

They sat on the boat for a few hours more, letting the magic guide his boat to see. They talked about what happened to her when she was attacked, and why he was screaming at 6:00 in the morning. They talked about the last Plague and how long he and Witch Princess knew one another. He didn't quite know the reason why they stopped talking for over fifty years, but it happened, and he had a feeling a lot of it had come to what had happened in the fight. He brought up one more topic, something personal. "Molly… do you… ever think about… your future?" Molly raised her eyebrows and asked, "Can't you see it?" He chuckled, and responded, "Only if you ask. I only ask because… I think about mine too."

"Your future is unlimited, Wizard."

"Yours could be too, Molly."

She was confused, but before he could answer, the two of them were taken in a pink smoke, and before they knew it, there was an enchanted forest surrounding them, and Witch Princess looking down to him.

"I win."


	13. Chapter 13

"Did you have to bring my boat?"

"How else was I going to transport both of you?"

Molly and Wizard sat in his sand boat and looked around to get their bearings. "So this is the forest we're camping out in?" asked Molly, "It could've been worse."

"No kidding. Nothing like my forest though. But it almost has a magical presence here… I wonder why…" Witch Princess pondered. They looked upward and saw a hollow tree and Molly suggested, "Maybe it's because of whatever's in there." Wizard and Witch Princess shrugged their shoulders and started walking. "Let's go." So they walked up the hill, balancing on the log towards the opposite side, and hypothesizing what on earth it could be until something blocked their path: a bear and her cubs. Witch Princess groaned and lifted her arm, ready to move it forcefully before both Molly and Wizard grabbed it. "What are you two doing? We need to see what it is!"

"Can't you see? No one is supposed to be here. If you mess with the natural order of things on this island, you might ruin our chances at restoring Waffle Island", Wizard explained, "So don't hurt the bear." She groaned again, louder than before and jumped down. Wizard looked at Molly and asked, "Did you understand that too?"

"I didn't even think of that; I just really didn't want her to hurt the bear."

Wizard simpered and admitted, "Me too… I just said stuff to make her stop." She giggled and Wizard teleported both of them to where Witch Princess set up a tent.

"We're going to be here for a while, so we might as well set up camp." Wizard agreed and set up the tent for himself and Molly. "I should see about food," said Molly, "For the most part, I see honey and mushrooms." She wandered off, looking for an ocean before realizing she was blocked in. "Uh, there's a huge rock here."

"Well, I can't break it because of 'Mr. Natural Order' over here." He rubbed his temples and Molly was looking for a way out. "I'll come with you, Molly," Wizard offered, "We can catch some fish." He walked towards her while Witch Princess complained, "Fish again?!" She sighed and thought, "Maybe I can transfigure it. It's just cells…", and during her thinking, the two of them phased through the rock and popped out of the area into another larger area with farmland available. She saw the ocean and exclaimed, "Perfect!" She ran over to it, searching for her fishing rod with Finn, before Wizard stopped her and said, "I'll lift; you catch." She held out the bag while Wizard levitated fish out of the water and put them in. As he did so, Molly reminded him, "You were saying something about my future, Wizard." He blushed; the moment seemed spontaneous when it was in the boat, but as they were on the island, deep within the mission, he couldn't. "I meant… that your future… is as unlimited as mine is. The only limit is really time… but time makes those accomplishments more fulfilling." She understood what he meant, even though that's not what he meant at all.

Before they caught the last fish, they heard footsteps coming. Wizard gasped, dropped the fish, and cloaked Molly. "Be very quiet." They saw what it was; a young man, looking around curiously. He had a cowlick, and brown eyes like Molly's. He walked closer and closer to them. Wizard was worried that he could see through the cloak, but was relieved to find that he was merely going for the fish. "A carp! I really need this for that rainbow recipe." He picked it up, placed in a rucksack, and walked away, hopefully back to his home. Once he was far enough, he removed the cloak. "Close call. But what's a rainbow recipe?"

"Maybe that's how he has to restore the island…"

"Are you sure it's him, Molly?"

"I'm not sure who else it could be. He seems like the savior for this island."

Wizard contemplated this; he reminded her quite a bit of Molly. Maybe he was the hero. He pondered this while lifting the last fish from its home. She gutted and prepared the fish for their fate, ready to return. Wizard held on to her and phased through the rock again. They returned to their new campsite in the forest. Wizard prepared a campfire and Witch Princess their seats, ready to eat after several hours of not doing so. Witch Princess tried her best to transfigure the fish into something else, and not doing well either. The fish was transfigured into another creature less appetizing: a snake. She moaned, and released a few less-than-desirable words from her mouth. "It's all right, Witch Princess. You'll get better at it." She looked up at him, a little surprised she didn't try to lecture her on something. "Thanks… I guess." Wizard nodded and responded, "Don't worry. It really… takes a solid understanding of biology… to truly understand transfiguration. Practice makes perfect. Did you… want something else?"

"Yeah. I wanted to make it into chicken."

Wizard lifted the chicken, and worked with his fingers to turn the snake corpse into a piece of uncooked chicken, ready for cooking. "Take it", he ordered. She released the levitation from his responsibility, and went to cooking it. They had a good lunch, and Molly brought up the man who came up to take the carp. "Rainbow recipe? Is that what has to be done here? We could make rainbows right now, and leave just in time for supper." Wizard shook his head, chuckling at the thought. "I don't think it would be that simple."

"Molly!"

Finn flew to her at a fast pace, bursting at the seam with excitement. "What's wrong, Finn?" Molly asked. "It's the person you were talking about. I followed him. He was talking to a sprite. He has to be a hero!" The three looked to each other in shock. "But what's a rainbow recipe?" asked Wizard. "It an actual recipe. You give a sprite ingredients, and they make a rainbow, but not just any old rainbow. If you have a badge, you can WALK on it! They gave the person one." Witch Princess sighed, and said, "Crap. It isn't that simple."

"So we just have to help him make rainbows. That should be simple."


	14. Chapter 14

Almost a season had passed since the four of them arrived on Waffle Island. They used this time to gather information from the townsfolk and help Kevin with his recipes however they could. They discovered that Kevin is the only one who stood out, without any obvious reason, as the rest look like the villagers back on Castanet. They were unsure why this was the case, or since it was, why there was not a Witch Princess or Wizard, but they continued with their mission as they needed. They would receive information through disguises they would put on Molly and have her talk to him while the other two followed since they were invisible.

One of their favorite disguises to have Molly take on was Dr. Jin, as he usually did not come into the Inn after work, which is where Kevin worked part-time. Of course, it was an initial shock for the town when the people saw the Doctor started coming more often, but slowly, they got used to it. Of course, to avoid suspicion, it was not very often, and they made sure it seemed like he kept mostly to himself. It was usually once a week, sometimes twice, sometimes zero. One time, Molly tried talking to him about the rainbow, which at the time, there was only one that he completed through the sprite, who according to Finn, was named Darren.

"Say, Kevin, what would you think if I told you rainbows are just a refraction and reflection of light off of water that disperse our color spectrum?" Kevin raised his eyebrows and replied, "I can't say for sure. Are you talking about that one rainbow at the town hall?" Molly answered, "Yes. It's a phenomenon. Some myths say that the Harvest Sprites of the Goddess that only children see can climb the mountains. Of course, it is just a myth." Kevin sweated a little and said, "That's… interesting."

"How do you think you would feel, being able to climb up light?"

"It… has to be interesting…," Kevin answered with a slight chuckle. Molly sighed, and said, "Don't lie. I saw you climbing the rainbow." Kevin went bug-eyed, and Wizard and Witch Princess' jaws were dropped. "Can we talk about this… upstairs?"

Molly and the other two followed Kevin upward into a hotel room. "Please don't tell anyone, Jin. The Harvest Goddess sent me on this journey to restore the rainbows. It'll improve the islands soil, winds, and seas, and overall, it'll be a happier place." Molly held up his right hand and said, "You have my word, this will be kept in complete secrecy." Kevin sighed with relief and Molly continued, "How did you restore that rainbow? I can only presume it was you. Am I correct?" asked fake Jin. "Yes. It requires a specific recipe that the Sprites you mentioned mix together and it forms a rainbow. They give me a badge that allows me to walk on these rainbows." Molly nodded and said, "I see. I would suggest that you not mention this to me in public, but if you think that I can be of any assistance, please let me know when I'm in the bar where we can have privacy." Kevin nodded and said, "As a matter of fact, you might be. I know it's not your profession, but do you have an eggplant?" Molly raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why?"

"I have to make grilled eggplant for this recipe. I would grow it, but my eggplants aren't of good quality because of the soil quality."

"I see. I might be able to help. If I can make it, I can come to your home tomorrow with it. Hopefully, this sprite you mention can be of some assistance."

Kevin beamed and thanked this Jin profusely. "I'm quite exhausted, so I'll return home. If I can make it, I'll come by tomorrow."

Fake Jin went back downstairs and left the Inn. When they got far enough into the farmland that they would not be seen by anyone, the three of them teleported back to their campsite. "Are you crazy?! Now we have to make a dumb grilled eggplant! Isn't he supposed to think he did this anyway?!" Witch Princess yelled. "Wait a minute, Witch Princess. Finn, I want you to find out which sprite wants the grilled eggplant." He flew off in search, and Wizard continued, "Now, we don't have to make it. But… we can help the soil quality… we just have to find one of his eggplant stalks… and add more nitrogen and other nutrients to make it of good quality." Witch Princess nodded, and said, "Let me get that ridiculous disguise off you," in which she snapped her fingers returned Molly to her original self, "but now, we have to keep surveillance on Jin so we can overtake his mind. We don't want him suspicious." Wizard sighed and said, "I don't like doing it… but it is our only option to save the island. I'm going to find an eggplant stalk on his farm…"

He teleported to Kevin's farm. He saw that Kevin was walking back to his home and since he was invisible to him, continued with his work. He walked over to his crops, however, and started talking to himself. "Maybe Jin won't have to… these babies should be regrown in a few days… so maybe if I'm lucky, I can get a good quality eggplant. I hope I can save this place… I wonder if anyone else has ever been in my shoes…" Kevin walked back to his house and closed the door. He reminded him of Molly, in a both sentimental and eerie way. He wondered about how eerily similar this island was to Castanet. Before he could let his mind wander, he finished giving the eggplants more nutrition and returned to the campsite.

A few days passed since that moment. They knew that the eggplants should have been grown, so Wizard and Molly agreed to camp out at the location Finn told them about: Maple Lake, not far from his farm. Witch Princess played seer and watched over Jin, ready to overtake him at any moment, should Kevin try talking to him. Wizard and Molly sat outside where the flower was growing, with Finn sitting on Molly's lap happily. "Do you think he got his eggplant?" Molly asked. "I hope so. I used the proper method to induce the nutrition… maybe he did." Molly shrugged and continued to watch out with her cloak on her. She didn't need to watch for long, because at around 10:00 AM, they saw Kevin running towards the flower.

He watered it and awoke the sprite, Ben. He took out the required items for the recipe. Once Ben saw that he had them, he got to work. Mixing together his fish, his dishes, his herbs and crops, they watched as a giant, beautiful rainbow soared into the sky. Kevin was hopping for joy, and Wizard and Molly sat there mesmerized by the phenomenon. Ben was happy too, but all of their hopes were quashed when something else happened. "No badge?!" Kevin yelled. Ben cried back into his plant form, and Kevin placed his palm to his forehead, moaned and ran away. "Well, now what?" Before Wizard could answer her, they heard a voice in their heads. "Uh, guys, we have a problem. There's a rainbow in our campsite." Wizard responded, "Don't worry. That rainbow is as good as useless to him. We have another problem… the badge he needs is missing.

"What?! Who lost it?!"

"The sprite who was responsible for making the rainbow."

Witch Princess groaned. "Incompetence. Sheer incompetence!"


	15. Chapter 15

"So how on earth are we supposed to help him with that? We can't cross the rainbows, can we?"

"I don't believe so, Witch Princess… but at the very least, we can help him get to the badge. Finn, would you have any ideas?"

"Maybe, Wizard. I'd have to investigate. I talk with other harvest sprites all the time, so I should be able to. These guys are basically the same ones as back home anyway. I won't say anything about you guys, though."

"Good. In the meantime, Molly, how about we return to the campsite? We'll need to do some reorganization if we're to help him find the badge."

They teleported to the location and found Witch Princess already in the works. "You're supposed to be watching Dr. Jin, Witch Princess." Witch Princes turned around and replied, "I know. I panicked." Molly sighed and said, "How about you watch, Wizard, and I'll see if I can help with the campsite." He nodded and sat down on a stump, ready to watch over Jin, before seeing something that made him gasp. "Kevin!" Molly looked to him and asked, "Should I go over there?"

"No, but I need your mind. I have to fuse you with him, Molly."

Although hesitant and confused, she ran over there anyway and Wizard placed his purple glowing hands on her temples. In that instant, she found herself in Jin's office. It looked quite a bit different than the one she was used to back on Castanet. She looked up and found Kevin standing next to her. Molly asked, "Can I help you, Kevin?"

"I need your help again."

"Of course, and I just want to say I'm terribly sorry about the eggplant." Kevin said, "Never mind about the eggplant. I got lucky. But there's something else I need." Kevin leaned in to whisper, "Do you know where I can catch a saury?" Although Molly would not have known this initially, suddenly, the knowledge was instantly available to her. "Yes, they can be caught off of Waffle Island during this season, or next." Molly was curious as to how on earth she knew that, but didn't want to appear suspicious. "I see. I would have asked Pascal or Toby, but it could have opened up a floodgate of questions, and I didn't want to risk it."

Molly decided to ask, "Why do you need to keep these rainbows a secret, Kevin?"

"Because no one else can see them, and I don't want everybody thinking I'm a lunatic."

Molly understood his feelings. The only one who could understand the magical implications of her journey was Wizard and Witch Princess, and not even they knew about it. "I understand. I still promise to keep your secret." Kevin grinned. "Thanks, Jin. Hopefully, this won't be much of a worry any longer."

"Goodbye, Kevin."

Fake Jin sighed with relief, and before she knew it, the world went black. She awoke staring to the sky, her head pounding. Wizard waved a hand over her head to relieve the pain, and she asked, "So what exactly happened to me there?" Wizard replied, "Your mind was taken to Jin's body, and Jin's mind was brought to your body. If I did everything correctly, he'll remember talking to Kevin, but not the topic." Molly stood up and Wizard apologized.

"I could have done this myself… but you're the only one… who can talk to him like he is used to. In a panic… it really seemed like using you was the only way. Forgive me?" Molly chuckled, and told him, "You have nothing to apologize for, Wizard. I understand." Wizard smiled, and continued to keep a watch on Jin.

In that time, Molly and Witch Princess worked on resetting the camp, both in its location, and in its looks. Witch Princess' strong suit was in cloak, even outdoing Wizard and created an effective cloak for their tents and fire pit. It looked like nothing was there at all until she walked into the cloak, which only she, Witch Princess, and Wizard could do so. After their set up, Molly felt on very small pat on her shoulder. When she turned around, she discovered it was Finn.

Panting, clearly exhausted from the flying, Molly set him down on a stump. "East Gull Island," he ejaculated, "It fell into the river, and there are only two places it could go. Either Toucan or East Gull Island, and I could bet a bunch of gold that it's East Gull Island. I could feel it."

"Is there a sprite on East Gull Island, Finn?" Molly asked.

"No… West Gull Island, yes. He has to make a rainbow for the other island."

"Did he need saury?"

"Yup. Saury, red wool yarn, spinach, a blue wonderful, and a banana."

Molly looked to Wizard and postulated, "It has to be his. Can we get this stuff?"

"Both myself and Witch Princess are useless in a mine. That one… will have to be up to him."

Molly sighed and told Finn, "You should rest. You did a good job." Finn flopped over on his back, panting and letting himself relax. "What about Spinach?"

"When I went to his eggplants… I saw his spinach plants were in very good condition. I…think he'll be fine. What could use some coaxing… is the saury. You can leave that much to me." Molly nodded and asked, "Do you think there's any way we could coax him to get a banana? Maybe talking to him as Jin might be effective." Wizard pondered this and said, "Maybe. Finn, do you know where he could find a banana?"

"Toucan Island. At least, that's what Collin said."

"If that's the case… you and Witch Princess should make a journey to the island."

Molly looked to her, and Witch Princess moaned, "Do we have to?"

"It might be best to help him get his banana. First… he needs coaxing to get him over there somehow… then you go."

Witch Princess groaned and said, "Fine. Come on. We'll go the dumb bird island, and Wizard, you can get that dumb fish."

"Fair enough. I'll see you when he gets a banana."


	16. Chapter 16

"How are we going to coax him to the island, Witch Princess?"

"Simple: I'm going to fuse your mind with someone else's."

"Again?"

"You're tough, Molly. You can handle it. I'll get Wizard to relieve your pain again after we're done, and if he can't help him get a saury soon, I'll do it. But who hangs out by the… ah-HA! The old guy with the funny hat! He offers a ferry to the bird island, doesn't he?"

"I guess…"

"Ready?"

Before she could answer, Witch Princess already held her hands to her temples in a pink glow, and before she knew it, she was in the fish shop. Not far off from the one in castanet, she had a good idea of how to get around. She walked out the door, and did what she thought Pascal would have done; she walked outside and went to his boat. She saw Kevin fishing, probably for the saury, and by him stood Wizard.

Wizard was enchanting the waters nearby him to attract saury, but there weren't many. While doing so, he looked up and saw Pascal. What's he doing here, he thought, he should be indoors. I hope he doesn't come over here. However, he was unaware that Molly was in Pascal's body, so he started to panic internally when he watched Pascal come to him. "Hello, Kevin. Fishing for anything specific?" Kevin answered without breaking concentration, "Nope. Just fishing for the fun of it." Fake Pascal nodded, and said, "You know, Saury usually come around during this season. I see a lot of them quite a bit around now and Winter." Kevin nodded and said, "I'd like one if I could. They're pretty good fish."

"Yes, yes, they're pretty popular." Molly said, winking to Wizard. Wizard was confused by this; who was Pascal winking to? There's no way he could see him… could he? "Hm… is that one over there?" Kevin looked over and saw what he meant. "I hope so…" Wizard looked, and coaxed the fish towards the bob as best as he could. Kevin felt it come and finally fished one out to his excitement. "Yes!" Fake Pascal laughed and said, "Yes, it's always exciting to catch one." Kevin held it like a trophy with excitement, and put it away in his rucksack quickly. Afterwards, he looked to Pascal and asked, "Say, Pascal, do you know where I could find a banana?" Fake Pascal raised his eyebrows with fake intrigue, and replied, "Interesting question. I believe you can find them easily on Toucan Island, and I do offer a ferry to it if you need one. Just to ask, why do you need it?"

"Let's just say it's for a recipe."

Molly wanted to grin as she knew perfectly well what he meant, but continued looking relaxed and said, "All right. Well, I can take you there if you need to go." Kevin nodded and said, "Great! When do we depart?"

"If I can have a few moments here, we'll leave immediately after."

Kevin ran for the boat, and fake Pascal turned to Wizard and told him, "Don't worry. I'm trying to take him to a banana for the recipe." She turned around and headed for the boat.

"Witch Princess."

He flicked his wrists and returned to the campsite to find Witch Princess hovering her hands over Molly. "You fused her with Pascal?!"

"You did it with Jin earlier."

"Move over, and let me monitor her condition. You watch over the situation." After Wizard prepared his magic, Witch Princess relinquished control. "What were you thinking?! I… I shouldn't have even done that with Jin. No one's mind… can handle being fused so much." Witch Princess sighed and focused her mind to the boat. "As soon as she gets to the island… I'm releasing her. You can control Pascal."

Molly felt a blunt pain in her head and Kevin asked if she was okay. "Oh, it's nothing. Some pains that come with age." She may have lied about the age, but the pain was the truth. She felt her body ache, particularly in her head. She wondered if this is a side effect to mind fusing. "I see the island, just ahead. We should be there shortly." She gritted her teeth, trying to hide the fact that his body felt like it was crumbling. It felt like she was being pressed down by weights a thousand times heavier than her.

"Her mind is starting to break. She's probably… in a lot of pain right now… oh, no…"

On the boat, Molly felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore, like the weights doubled down on her chest.

"She's in cardiac arrest. Stop watching, and help." Witch Princess brought her mind back to it and prepared her glowing hands to look into her body. It took a few moments of cellular reparation and movement to bring her heart back to normal, but eventually, they fixed the problem.

"Are you all right, Pascal?"

At first, she wasn't, but the pain suddenly lessened, and fake Pascal turned to him and said, "Yes. I just got a little winded somehow. Don't worry. We're here." Molly docked the boat and allowed Kevin off. "Good luck with your banana hunt, Kevin."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay for the ride back?"

"Perfectly fine. Now, go on. Don't just look for bananas either. There's fantastic fish on this island as well, and you could probably do to make some gold, don't you think?"

"Right. Thanks, Pascal. I'll be back soon."

Molly waved goodbye, and sat back down. The pain that dulled for a second seemed to be coming back, but before it could reach its former intensity, she found herself staring at the sky again. "This is starting to become a pattern." Wizard hugged her again, and told her, "We shouldn't have fused your mind so much. I'm sorry." Witch Princess knelt down and said, "I'm sorry too, Molly. You went into cardiac arrest while you were gone, whatever that is, and so you probably felt a lot of pain. Did you get him over there okay, at least?" Wizard scowled at her, but Molly replied, "Yes, but he seemed worried about me. I'm glad you guys pulled me out of there." Wizard told her, "You need rest. Your mind can really take a beating. Fusing a mind twice could theoretically kill a person. I'll take you to your tent." He helped Molly up, and ordered Witch Princess to control his mind, but she was already on it.

As Witch Princess discovered, when he said soon, he meant it. He came back with a banana in hand, and they returned to the island. She found that controlling a boat was not much unlike controlling a broom, and liked doing so. Some time passed before they returned, and fake Pascal sent him off, and walked back in. She relinquished her control over Pascal, making sure he didn't remember anything that happened.

After letting go of the captain's mind, she teleported to where Kevin was to see his actions. He climbed the rainbow, and since she couldn't do so, teleported to the island ahead of him instead. He ran towards the flower at the end of West Gull Island with a watering can, and watered it. When she realized what he was about to do, she teleported to Wizard's location, only to find their faces close together, almost kissing. She could feel passion from where she stood. It made her sick. Were they about to kiss, she thought.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but Kevin's about to make a new rainbow, and thought you might want to watch."

Wizard reluctantly stood up and said, "You should stay and rest, Molly."

"No. I want to come."

He helped her up from her bed, and Witch Princess cloaked her and teleported the three of them. They watched as Collin mixed all the ingredients together and created a beautiful, fully functioning rainbow that married the two Gull Islands together. For once, they watched the sprite give him a rainbow badge. He took it with great pride, and strutted to the other island, and after a few moments, came back with another badge in hand. It must have been Ben's.

He ran back to Waffle Island, and as the sun was setting, the three decided to return to the campsite. Once they arrived, Wizard guided her to her tent, and said, "I'll bring you food." As he walked away, Molly said, "Wait!" He turned and said, "About earlier… I'm sorry. It must have been… awkward for you." He smiled and replied, "Don't worry. It only seemed really…awkward when Witch Princess… interrupted." Molly chuckled and set the guideline, "So nothing happened." Wizard was a little saddened by this, but agreed, "Nothing happened."

He walked out the campsite, and sighed a little bit. He walked to the campsite only to be bombarded by questions from Witch Princess. "Sooooo, were you guys about to kiss? Were you sweet talking her? Was she sweet talking you? Did you finally tell her your feelings—"She gasped loudly, "Did you tell her your name?!" He turned around and said sharply, "Nothing happened." Witch Princess seemed stunned, and he repeated slower, "Nothing… happened." Witch Princess simpered a little, and Wizard announced, "I'm going to catch dinner." Witch Princess replied, "All right. See you when you get back, _lover boy_!" He teleported out of the campsite quickly, clearly annoyed.

"Damnit, Vivi," cursed Wizard under his breath.


	17. Chapter 17

After he teleported, Witch Princess couldn't help but cackle. "Well, if he doesn't want to tell me, there's two sides to this story…" She got up and pranced to her tent where Molly was sitting, face down and with her arms held together. "You look upset." Molly gasped a little, looked up, and saw Witch Princess at her tent door. "No, I'm fine."

"Bullocks. You can't hide anything from me. Now tell me what happened."

"It really isn't that interesting."

"Bul-locks."

Molly respired, and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes! Now tell me already!"

"Fine. It isn't that long of a story anyway."

Wizard was at the beach, trying his best to focus on catching fish, but something was off. Every time he tried to lift one, it would wriggle out of his invisible grasp and swim away. He groaned after his third failed attempt, and plopped down in front of a tree. "I don't know what I was thinking." He knew he couldn't quite catch because he was distracted. He decided the best way to get past this was to confront it, as he had done with memories before. Where would he begin?

"Well, it started when he led me to the tent, when you were controlling Pascal. He laid me down onto my bed, and began doing some magic stuff."

"Probably trying to bring his medical studying to some practical use."

"He's done well with it. Remember what happened at the first campsite?"

"I try not to, but please, continue."

"Anyway, he explained that…"

He remembered explaining that all the mind fusing affected her body functions since her brain tried to shut down. "I'm healing those functions… because your brain was not able to help them." Molly said, "I see." Even if she did not, it was okay as he was just trying to heal. "You know, you have been—oh my goodness that feels good." He chuckled.

"Did you actually say that, Molly?" Molly emphasized, "It did! He explained that it was dead tissue in my legs being reformed." Witch Princess seemed unsure of that, but said, "Well, whatever. What happened next?" Molly continued, "Well, I continued with saying that he's been really good about everything. Both of you have these incredible powers, and he's practically brought me back to life, twice, then there's just…"

"…me." Wizard recounted. "What do you mean… just you?" Molly sighed and said, "There's nothing really special about me." Wizard replied, "Don't say that. You've done… some incredible things… even before we left. I…I still remember the cave."

"The cave?" Witch Princess asked excitedly, "What cave?!" Molly giggled a little and answered, "We climbed up Mt. Garmon together because we needed to see the Harvest King and he couldn't teleport because his magic is screwy with minerals in it." Witch Princess eagerly continued to listen. "He said that he remembered when after the Plague attacked us the first time, and we were in the mine together, he said I was determinate, that I was strong, that he felt useless in there too, and remembered that the only thing that stopped me was poison."

"I don't know why you would think that, Wizard," he recounted Molly saying, "if it weren't for you when that gas hit me, we wouldn't be talking." Wizard countered with, "If it wasn't for me…that gas wouldn't have hit you. I… distracted you." A little time passed before she said, "It wasn't your fault." He continued, "Even from then… theoretically… having your mind fused twice should have killed you. It didn't… because you've been incredible too." He looked her in the eyes, "You've been amazing… ever since you came to Castanet. You've… been a positive force of change… for Castanet. You strengthened our fire… brought back our wind… calmed the seas… you awoke the Harvest King… and restored the Goddess' tree. You saved our island, Molly… and even beyond that… you shouldn't have been able to see a Fugue Mushroom… the Goddess thinks you helped her back… Molly, you are amazing, and confident, and strong…" He felt like an idiot now for doing this, but at the time it felt right to touch her cheek, "… and you never needed magic… to be who you are… the best kind of person, Molly."

"And then, things felt magical. His hand was warm, my heart was fluttering… it only felt right to come closer and… and…"

"Smooch him!"

Molly blushed, and her heart was beating with embarrassment. "And then I came in, and ruined everything!"

"You shouldn't worry about it, Witch Princess."

"Worry about it? I'm glad I did it. I don't need you two playing kissy-face to distract us from our mission. But if I'm ever gone again… I guess I can't really stop you."

"I don't need this, Witch Princess."

"Ha! Well, anyway, where's lover boy with the food? He should have been done catching our food by now." She teleported out of the tent, and Molly was left to her own devices.

Winter passed since that moment. They spent it trying to help Kevin with Alan's rainbow. The hardest part was the wood fish; although they were directly at the stump, it took time for Kevin to assuage the bears' assurances so they could let him in. Even after that, it was hardest to help him catch the wood fish. They could only come out at night, and most nights, Kevin could not show up. It was most likely due to the pressures of his farm, a feeling of which Molly could easily relate. The rest of the time was spent with the three of them partaking in some of the festivals that Waffle Island had to offer. They found some of their traditions were not unlike Castanet's. For example, the Starry Night festival was a favorite to go to, mostly because of the star part. Witch Princess refused to do anything with mortals involved, but the Starry Night festival was Wizard's favorite event, and so Molly and he went together, herself cloaked. They watched from the tree next to Alan's flower, and found that shooting stars were not so common like they were in Castanet, but it didn't matter. The fact was he enjoyed this festival, and most of all, loved that for once, he could spend it with company. When the New Year's Eve festival came about, the two of them went to the beach after all three of them had a great dinner. They decided to settle for the beach to watch the sunset come.

"Do you have a resolution, Molly?"

"I think so. My resolution… is to be quicker with missions, so I can go home."

Wizard chuckled at this and replied, "I think that's a good one to make."

"What about yours?"

"I make the same one every year: make more discoveries."

Molly smiled. The feeling that came a season ago was back, but it didn't seem right to make him go through that again. The only problem with that logic was that he wanted to as well, but once again, they were interrupted.

"Come on, you two, it's almost six o'clock."

She sighed, and asked, "Care to return to the campsite?"

Wizard hesitated, "Maybe after a few more moments. I like this tranquil setting right now."

And so they sat, continuing to watch it rise. The ocean continued its calm pulse, and the sun came right on time to brighten the horizon.


	18. Chapter 18

Spring 2 of the new year seemed quite different than what they were used to. For once, it felt warm, and peaceful. They still waited for Kevin to come, but even though it was indeed the new year, they continued business as usual. They kept a watchful eye on Jin, who as far as Kevin was concerned was his closest confidante on the rainbows and the Goddess. They wanted to keep his confidence up, so they kept a watchful eye on him any time before 10 PM. However, today was not a day where this was necessary, as Kevin finally showed up to the goddess pond.

He had a gold fishing rod in hand, and walked up the mountain with confidence while they followed closely with Molly under cloak. He stood in the middle of the path and cast his line. Theoretically, he could have stayed for hours before he had to wake up, but by 10 PM, the three of them were already quite bored with it. "Do you see one anywhere, Gale?" Witch Princess asked telepathically. "Not quite, but we need to keep a close eye. It could be anywhere." They searched throughout the pond, but Molly stayed in a position not far from Kevin.

She liked this pond; it gave her a good feeling, a peaceful feeling, as if someone was telling her that everything was going to be all right. She looked into the pond, curious if Kevin could see her reflection and noticed a fish. It had to be the wood fish.

She waved her hands to signal the fish to head for his bob, as if it understood what she was gesturing. However, the fish did finally go towards the bob, and Kevin pulled with all of his might. Witch Princess and Wizard looked up to find Kevin doing so and ran towards him, ready help in whatever way they could. When he finally pulled the fish in front of him, he hopped and skipped and cheered all over. "Yes! Oh, but it's 11. I need to sleep, but I'll hand him this stuff tomorrow." He ran out of the pond, ready clearly to make his way to Alan's tree. The three of them held him to his word.

The next day, Witch Princess woke up Molly at 6 AM, and said, "It's eggs today. Freshly transfigured." Molly woke up, ready to eat and ready to watch a rainbow be formed. After about 2 hours, the three of them teleported to Alan's flower. Wizard remembered it well; the first starry night festival that didn't require him to go alone. He hoped he could do it again on Castanet.

The process of rainbow mixing was a slow and tired process that they understood perfectly well, and simply waited until the rainbow was complete. "Ready?" Wizard asked Witch Princess telepathically, "Lasso!" They roped him with two lassos to follow him efficiently. Witch Princess made her way up on her own, and Wizard held onto Molly as tight as he could while flying through the air as light as a feather.

When they landed on their two feet atop the mountain, they only saw a purple flower. Kevin's first reaction was to water that flower, and that reaction seemed a good way to go… that is, until they saw the sprite that was talking: Edge. "Oh good, the crybaby." Witch Princess told Wizard telepathically. He sobbed out the ingredients, which was the important part. While Kevin climbed down the rainbow, the three of them returned to the campsite.

"So where could he go for tuna?" Molly asked.

"Two places… either Gull Islands… or Cream Beach…" answered Wizard

"I could watch over the Gull Islands if you take the beach."

"That should work."

"Well, what about the honeydew?"

"I… guess we wait for summer then."

Witch Princess and Molly groaned. "So we spending a whole year here?" Witch Princess complained.

"We have to… it's the best way to fight it."

Molly sighed, and Witch Princess paced. "You sure we can't just transfigure something into a honeydew?"

"Positive… it can only harm progress."

Molly thought of something then, "You know, sometimes, I save crops after I harvest them so I can cook later. What if Kevin did that?"

Witch Princess looked to Wizard and said, "Are you suggesting we invade his privacy, ransack his refrigerator, all for the sake of finishing quicker? Because I am totally for it and we should do that right now."

"I can't believe I'm saying this… but we may need to do that… it might help…"

Before Wizard even finished his sentence, she was already gone. Only a few moments passed before she came back and announced, "He's got one!" Molly cheered, and asked, "Okay. Could you go back and check for a snowflake flower? He might have saved that too."

"That one might be harder…" It didn't even take her a second to mull the possibility over before she left. Once again, she came back announced, "Got that too!"

"So all we need is for his tulips to grow, to help him catch a tuna, and hope he catches a lapis lazuli." Molly concluded.

"Sounds about right." Witch Princess concurred.


	19. Chapter 19

Time seemed to pass slowly as they waited for Witch Princess to return from helping Kevin find a blue wonderful, which to them was the hardest part next to waiting for the tulips to grow. Wizard helped him catch the Tuna easily, especially since Kevin didn't use the Gull Islands to fish for it. When he reported back, he said nothing interesting happened, just standing there and waiting for a tuna to come so he could pull it towards Kevin's bob. However, things were far more interesting when Witch Princess returned. Once she teleported back, she was covered in dirt and soot. Looking absolutely exhausted, she fell right over and landed face first. Wizard and Molly ran over to her to help, and she only said, "Just leave me to die."

Once they got her up, and Wizard helped her healing process, she began to tell the story. She understood when she agreed to help Kevin that her magic would be quite funky and might take an interesting turn, but all three of them knew that sending Molly in there would be an even bigger risk for their discovery than sending in Witch Princess, who was invisible automatically. So when Wizard saw that he was in the cave, she teleported to Ganache Mine, ready to help. "I saw what you meant by feeling weird. I don't normally go near that stuff, so I'm not used to it.

"Well anyway, we continued down the mine, and he was as dumb as a sack of bricks. Do you know how many times he fell down the pitfalls?" Molly sweated a little, as she's quite guilty of doing so as well. "I kept having to leap after him, but thankfully, I can see in the dark pretty well. I don't think he could, it's probably why he kept falling. So we keep going on, right? I don't know what kind of trip he was on, but it certainly wasn't just for blue wonderful. I feared he might fill up his rucksack. We went down to at least 25 levels, I think. It's where things started to go wrong.

"Well, I walk around a little bit, and I see all sorts of wonderfuls. Nothing really piques my interest since farmers usually ships off products for me to go—" She looked to Molly and continued nervously, "—and buy wholesomely, and with 100% money." Molly glared at her for a few seconds, but sighed and said, "It doesn't matter. What happened?"

"Well, I finally see a blue rock, and it has the perfect wonderful in it. I wasn't sure if there was anything I could do to get his attention so he didn't fill up his rucksack all the way and leave without it, so I try making a small attempt at doing something to get his attention—"

"You used magic?!" Wizard barked.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't have, but I couldn't let him leave after spending hours in that dumb cave, so I try to… brighten it up." Wizard groaned and threw his head into his hands. "Why do I think I can guess what happened?"

"Because my attempt at brightening it ended up with the rock exploding and having the impact move across nearly the entire level."

Wizard and Molly's jaws dropped at the same time. "Exploded?!" Wizard screamed. "Is he alive?" Molly asked worried.

"Well, his body didn't really take it well, if that's what you mean. Neither did mine though. I was absolutely writhing in pain, and I was stuck in fetal position for a bit, but then I saw him bruised up and bleeding in the corner, unconscious. So I crawled over there, but paused because I saw that the blue wonderful made it out intact. So I grabbed it, threw some other wonderful out of his rucksack and placed it in there, then got to work trying to heal him. It was hard trying to do it here, where the magical energy is flowing peculiarly heavy, but in a cave where my magic has no control, it's hard."

Wizard could relate; he remembered how hard it was to help Molly recover in the cave, but he managed to do it after a lot of effort. "It just came down to a point where I really had to focus on something, anything. I don't know why, but… I thought of my forest. I missed it a lot." Wizard thought of Molly at that point, and focused on her. "It took a lot of time and I had to fix a lot of mistakes, but eventually, most of his nearly mortal wounds healed and he woke up. He limped out of there, a bit frightened about what happened, and I followed. I wasn't about to accidentally kill myself by trying my hand at healing in that cave. So I limped out of all 25 levels, and when I got back to an area where it was a lot easier to control my magic, I came over as fast as I could."

Wizard sighed, "That was extremely reckless… and you could have blown the whole operation… but… he has the wonderful. As long as he's alive, that matters." She moaned standing up and announced, "Well, I need to hit the hay. I am absolutely exhausted, and I am in just in-CREDible pain. Later." She walked slowly for her tent, and lied down.

"He has tuna, and as long as she saw everything correctly, he has a blue wonderful. I should probably find him and help him with his healing." He tracked Kevin only to find him in Jin's office. "Oh, no." He immediately possessed Jin, and got to work.

"You did quite a number on yourself. What happened?" Wizard asked as Jin.

"I can't say I'm really sure. As far as I could tell, it was a bad cave-in. But, I can't say I saw rubble, so I don't know." Wizard felt a wave of relief come over him. There was no suspicion of magic. "Sounds quite frightening. I'm going to rub this salve onto your wounds and give you a medication. I want you to take it easy for a while after this." Kevin nodded, and fake Jin began rubbing it. "Just to warn you… it burns", he cautioned while Kevin was seething with pain. "You're very lucky to make it out of there alive. People have died in cave-ins."

"I know. But Jin… it's nearly done…"

He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What is?"

"The rainbows. I'm so close to bringing back the Harvest Goddess."

He smiled and said, "Very good. I wish you best of luck."

"Thanks. I'm really close."

Fake Jin smiled, and continued to rub the salve. Once he finished, he handed him the medication and said, "Obviously, you should stay away from the mines for a while." Kevin nodded and said, "Thanks, Jin. You've been a huge help." He walked out the door and sat Jin down, then Wizard relinquished control and returned to the campsite.

"He told me about the rainbows nearly being finished. All we need to do… is to wait for the tulips. I could try making something grow in the flowers… to attract bees. If I cloak you… could you follow Kevin… to make sure he gets the lapis refined?" Molly nodded and said, "I'll find you when I come back… and teleport you to the campsite… when you and I think there's nothing more for you to do."

"All right. Cloak me then."

After applying the cloak, Molly was taken straight to Kevin, who was running by Maple Lake, probably trying to make it to the blacksmith. After Wizard disappeared, she chased after him to the blacksmith, in which he made it just in time to refine. However, he closed the door too quick for Molly to follow without things looking suspicious, and so she waited.

It took about 15 minutes before Kevin's wonderfuls and ore were finally refined. She followed him to the shipping bin nearby and watched him ship his items. He pulled out each item one-by-one, and place it in there. She didn't expect him, however, to pull out the lapis lazuli Witch Princess nearly died over. Her heart starting beating nervously, hoping that he didn't place the death jewel in that bin.

Of course, her hopes sank along with her heart.

After shipping everything refined, he walked back to his farm, satisfied. She was met by Wizard, who teleported her back to the campsite.

"Wizard, did you…?"

"Yes…"

"Do you have any idea what to do? We can't send Witch Princess back in there."

"I know…"


	20. Chapter 20

A few days had passed since he sold the lapis lazuli, and it was mostly melancholy, minus Witch Princess' obvious anger that for whatever reason, she decided not to mention. They sat around their campfire area, with Wizard watching over Kevin while Witch Princess and Molly awaited news.

"His tulips finally have honey." Wizard announced.

Witch Princess harrumphed in her seat.

"You can't stay angry forever, Witch Princess," Molly told her.

"I can try."

"We're not allowed to interfere, remember?" Molly reminded.

"I did."

"And look how well that worked out." Molly reminded once again.

Witch Princess scowled at her, while Wizard told everyone, "He has the red honey."

"Greeaat." The witch replied sarcastically.

"We're really close, Witch Princess. We'll be able to go back to Castanet soon." Molly prompted.

"If he didn't throw away that dumb lapis lazuli, we could go home now!" Witch Princess snapped.

"He's leaving his house… and running to somewhere." Wizard disclosed.

"There was nothing any of us could have done, Witch Princess."

"And? That doesn't mean I can't hate him for being so stupid!"

Molly groaned and said, "I don't know what to tell you. I don't know why he did it, either, but we still have a purpose here." Witch Princess harrumphed once again. "Purpose, schmurpose. I don't want to look at his dumb face again."

"You may have to. Kevin is headed for Edge."

They both looked to him. Wizard stood up and asked Witch Princess to cloak Molly. "Do I have to go?" Witch Princess moaned. "It would be a good idea. Molly… should be cloaked regardless." Witch Princess sighed and cloaked her, before the three of them transported to Kevin. Once again, she lassoed onto Kevin and went by herself while Wizard held onto Molly. Once they made it up, they watched with bated breath as their last rainbow was made in front of the four of them.

"So we have to help him find a seedling of hope?! Why didn't those dumb sprites tell him this information before?!" Witch Princess yelled once they teleported back to the campsite.

"They didn't know it was that dead!" Finn snapped.

"I'm not insulting you personally."

"They're my people, Witch Princess!"

"Enough! That isn't the point. We… we have to find the seedling." Wizard reminded.

"Uh… I might have seen a seedling before."

Everyone looked to her. "Where?" Wizard asked calmly.

"It was over by the lighthouse. It was bone white and had this strong, winding trunk." Wizard sat down and processed the information. "He's bound to ask the people… yes, and I can bet you… he'll go to Jin first." He sat in the position he would get into for possession. "Wait, why not have Molly talk to him?" Wizard answered, "I don't want to fuse her mind again. Her mind… took a beating the first time… but there's no guarantee it can survive…again." Witch Princess exhaled sharply and sat down. He continued with the possession.

"Hello, Jin."

Wizard looked towards the door and saw that Kevin was walking in. "Hello, Kevin. How can I help you?" Kevin smiled and answered, "Do you know about the 'Seedling of Hope?' I was wondering if you could help me find it." Wizard fake-pondered the thought. "The 'Seedling of Hope'? Hmm…

"You know, I found a strange seedling over by the lighthouse. It was bone white and had a strong, winding trunk. You should take a look at it." Kevin nodded and left immediately. Fake Jin left the office to see if Kevin was running for the lighthouse. He followed him to find him staring at the seedling.

"Ah, you found it." Kevin looked surprised to see him. "I've never seen a seedling like that before. I thought I could use it to make medicine, but I couldn't find it in any of my medical books," he lied, "I hope that's the seedling you're looking for. Kevin, I wish you luck." Kevin nodded, and Wizard returned to his office. He sat him down as he found him and relinquished control of Jin.

"And?" Molly asked.

"He has the seedling. He'll be coming here to plant it, so we'll need to stay quiet when he comes."

"At least he wasn't dumb enough to dilly-dally."

"What do we do if it's a fake?" Molly asked.

"I guess we'll plan that. He's here… stay low."

Kevin ran up the steps, and Wizard whispered as quiet as possible, "I'll follow him." He left the campsite and followed closely. Once he entered the spring, he watched as he planted the sapling proudly. Wizard felt overjoyed until he saw what happened.

"It died?!" She exclaimed after Kevin left.

"I'm afraid so."

"Well, who could we look to next?"

"Well, we should look for someone… who is quite familiar with myths." Wizard suggested. "So, like an explorer?" Molly thought. All three perked up.

"Calvin."

Wizard worked immediately to find and possess Calvin, who left the mine shortly before he took over. He looked within his pockets, and found the seedling within his pockets. He saw Kevin run over to the cave and saw he was relieved to find this Calvin.

"Uh, Calvin, have you heard of a seedling of hope?"

Before he knew it, he found himself on the tenth floor, struggling to hang onto control. "Glad you made it! Let me show you that strange seedling I found…" He pulled it out and showed it to him. "This is definitely the seedling of hope." Wizard raised his eyebrows, "I'm glad you're so confident. There's only one way to be sure though. Plant this seedling and see if it grows into a Mother Tree or a Midas tree." He knew the legends of the Midas tree; he studied the legend in his mythology studies.

He handed over the seedling calmly, and walked away, making it seem like he was going to continue exploring. He thought he should tell Kevin of the Midas legend and said, "You know, Kevin, if that does grow into a Midas tree…" but then feared he was starting to lose control so he continued, "Nah, forget it. Okay, good luck." Once Kevin left, he relinquished control, and hoped he wouldn't wonder why he was back in the cave after just leaving.

"He's coming back, isn't he?"

"Yeah. He might be testing… if this is a Midas tree or not… I'm going to go to the tree." He walked away when Witch Princess decided to try her hand at possession. She took control of Calvin, who was climbing back up the cave, and continued to make him do so. She led him all the way to the goddess spring, where he saw Kevin's new sapling fail. "So it died, huh?" Kevin turned around, very much shocked to see Calvin stand there.

"Don't worry about it. If it really was the Midas tree… Well, we're better off without it." Fake Calvin walked towards the sapling and spouted the legend. "So if that had grown into a Midas tree, I would have destroyed it anyway." She continued to let him spout words of good. "The Sapling you're looking for is supposed to restore this islands to its former glory, right, Kevin? I'm sure it's around here somewhere. Just keep looking. Good luck!" She walked away from Kevin and walked back to the front of the mine, where she finally relinquished control.

Once Kevin left, Wizard walked back to the campsite and said, "Was that necessary?"

"Just thought I'd give him a reality check. Others care about this place, too."

Wizard said, "Well, now, I don't know where it could be."

"I could. You know that weird mayor guy? He's suspicious. I don't like it." Molly suggested.

Wizard pondered this and said, "I might as well check. It's not as if… I have any other clue." He scanned the mayor's house and indeed found a seedling. "You're right. There is a seedling there."

"Good going, Molly."

"I only say this because our Hamilton is just as weird."

"So how do we get this one?"

"It'll be tricky. I'm sure we can get it somehow… but I don't know if… it will be as simple… as it has been with Jin and Calvin."


	21. Chapter 21

""I can't overtake Hamilton." Wizard announced.

"Why?" Molly asked

He had tried for at least an hour to get into his mind, but it couldn't be done. "They say that those who keep a lot of secrets… or very, very big ones… have locked minds. Clearly, he has some sort of secret."

"Keeping secrets sounds like a great way to protect yourself from possession, then." Molly said.

"You would think so… but then comes the question… of how the soul deals with it…"

"Does something happen to the soul?"

"It's very much… weighed down… as if… someone placed a great, big weight on your chest…"

"Weight, schmeight, how about we get some answers for how to deal with this, then?" Witch Princess suggested. "I would love to… but without overtaking Hamilton… there's nothing I can think of…"

"Can someone with a locked mind still be able to have their mind fused?"

Wizard stared at her incredulously, but Witch Princess responded, "Sure. Fusion and possession are two different things. Are you offering?" Wizard sputtered out, "We… we can't… not… not again…" The witch threw her head into her palms and muttered, "Oh, for the love of—" She lifted up her head and asked, "-Okay, why?" He responded, "We nearly killed her last time."

"Because I had no idea that she couldn't withstand two fusions without help."

"I'm saying no to the idea. I didn't even… didn't even like doing it the first time."

He walked back into his tent when Molly suggested, "What about his son, Gill? Is his mind locked?"

"I don't think so. Do you think that'll solve anything?"

"At the very least, you could tell him to go ask Hamilton."

"I guess. Hold on a second."

She made her effort to control him and found herself in a courtyard, not far from Darren's tree. She saw Kevin run towards him surprisingly, and asked, "Hello, Kevin. What can I do for you?"

"Do you know about the Seedling of Hope, Gill?" Kevin asked, hopeful that there may be something.

"In my backyard… well, ask my father about it."

Kevin ran off, and she relinquished control of Gill. "Did it work?" Witch Princess lifted her head up and responded with, "I need to see where Hamilton is. Give me a second." She went back into her position as if to take over a mind, but came back in a second and said, "He's in the Inn. I'll be right back." She teleported out of the campsite and Wizard ran out of his tent. "Where is she going?" Molly answered, "To the Inn. She got Kevin to go talk to Hamilton about the seedling." Wizard cloaked her and immediately teleported her to the Inn. They saw Hamilton face down on his table and Kevin and Witch Princess by his side. He was very clearly drunk, which could especially be told by the slurring of his words.

"The Seedling of Hope… ohh… should I tell people…?" Hamilton groaned

"The Seedling? What?" Kevin asked.

"I…uhh… I can't tell you. It's… uhh… a secret." Hamilton responded.

"What's a secret?" Kevin badgered.

"What's a secret? …It's a big, biiig secret, involving something hidden somewhere."

"Where?" Kevin continued.

"Where did I… huh?" Hamilton uttered, making Witch Princess throw her head into her palms with impatience.

"Look for a building… that's very quiet… and very sacred…and look under your feet… where a ray of light is shining down…"

"What's hidden?" Kevin asked, seeming as impatient as Witch Princess.

"Oh… what's hidden? It's a secret key… It unlocks the door to… the seedling. It's very important, so that's why it's a secret."

"What about the seedling?" Kevin asked, growing ever more impatient.

"The… seedling… it's very important… you can't let it die…" The old man finally fell asleep in his drunken haze, allowing Kevin to leave with plenty of answers. The three of them teleported back to the campsite, and discussed what they heard. "Do you think he meant a church? What's so sacred about that?" asked Witch Princess.

"I believe so. It's sacred to the people. Maybe he figured it out." Wizard looked away for a few seconds to find Kevin, who returned home. "I think… he's going to wait until morning to do so. It seems pointless to… go into a dark church at night. Plus… people might think he's doing something suspicious…and the mayor could come home at any time."

"So we're waiting until morning for him to go to church?"

"Seems about right."

"Well, then, catch me some dinner, and let's get some sleep so we can follow him."

"It's your turn tonight."

"Aw, I hate doing it alone."

"I'll come with you, Witch Princess." Molly told her.

The next morning came rather slowly. When the clock hit 11 AM, Wizard announced he was in the church, and indeed, he found the key. The three of them teleported to the mayor's house in anticipation. They saw Kevin run towards them excitedly, ready to use the key to finally achieve his goal. Once the mayor left his house, Kevin opened the front door and entered. They did not follow him in, but looked into the backyard. There was a seedling like Wizard and Hamilton had said themselves. Kevin eagerly picked it up, placing it in his rucksack with readiness to plant it. "I knew there was something shady about this guy." Molly whispered quietly to Wizard. He nodded and watched Kevin leave the house. He took out the seedling from his rucksack, admiring it, but three of them were completely shocked to find the mayor come back and scold him about breaking and entering. His tone softened however, when he admitted to raising the Seedling of Hope for years and thinking it's time to plant this seedling. "But if you plant it at the Harvest Goddess spring and it isn't the Seedling of Hope, it'll die," Hamilton cautioned, "And to see it die after all these years of raising it… it might break my heart."

Wizard and Molly smiled a little at the sentiment, but Witch Princess seemed ready to hex him. He placed the seedling back into his rucksack, and Hamilton continued, "But this is what I was raising it for. For better or worse, it's time to plant it. I'll leave it to you, Kevin… Please be careful." Hamilton walked back to his house, and Kevin made a running start. The three of them transported to the spring, eagerly awaiting Kevin.

"We finally get to go home," Molly said, "I can't wait…"

"Me too… I wonder if anyone noticed… that we were gone."

"They would definitely notice Molly left for almost three seasons, but you…" said Witch Princess, "… bit of a stretch… I'm happy no one will notice I'm gone."

"You need to stay hidden."

"Exactly."

Wizard rolled his eyes, and stayed silent when he saw Kevin run into the spring. They moved out of the way for Kevin to come in, and plant it. He left the spring, and immediately, the sprites all came in, dancing around the plant. Kevin ran back in at the sound of the hubbub, and saw them all happily moving.

When they saw him, they moved to Kevin immediately to thank him and praise the tree. They all danced about him, babbling excitedly that the tree will grow bigger and bigger and they would take care of it, and admitting that they blamed each other for the original tree's death. After checking on the tree, Kevin left the spring, and so did the three of them, along with the sprites, who returned to their respective trees.

After a night of excitement at the near end of their quest, they slept well, waiting for days to see if the tree had grown. Perhaps it's the tree's magical properties, but they noted that this tree grew at an incredibly fast pace. By day two, it was nearly a full grown Mother Tree. By day four, they saw that the sprites had sent him correspondence to meet him at the top of the Mother tree.

They knew where Edge's flower was officially, and teleported to that very tree, awaiting Kevin to finish his year long quest, and arrive. However, that was ruined when Molly looked to the distance.

"Uh, do you see a black cloud over there?"


	22. Chapter 22

(Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to update; I had a very busy week, but I'm back. I hope you enjoy the update, and I'll try to be more consistent with them. Have a good read!)

. . .

It was back. That sinking feeling of despair, that chill sent down his spine, the chest pain from the first time he encountered the Plague. Without even needing to ask or read her mind, he knew Witch Princess felt it too. Molly only stood stiffly with fear, memories of what happened before they left flooding her mind, clouding it. If that black cloud wasn't the Plague, they didn't know what it could have been.

Kevin slowly pushed up the rainbow as the cloud drew closer eerily. His heart was beating, thinking that he needed to hurry before it came closer. It felt like an eternity before seeing his beaming, yet innocent face.

Wizard broke the stiffness of the group, knowing that their mission was at an end. He grabbed hold of Molly, and lassoed forward, and Witch Princess followed suit. They found themselves on top the tree, just in time to see the Harvest Goddess returned.

"Is it me, or does she look exactly like Sephia, Gale?" Witch Princess asked telepathically.

"She does. Curious."

They all knew she could see them. Even without telepathy, they knew she was the only presence who could possibly be capable of seeing them. They waited as she created a fabulous rainbow for Kevin to walk across in victory. It was bigger and far more incredible than the other five, and he marched across with great pride. Wizard made sure he forgot that Jin ever knew about the rainbows before he even moved his leg. The sprites returned to the spring below, just in time for the Plague to appear over them.

It formed a spear this time, and in the same fashion as before, it aimed directly for Molly. She wanted to move, but too stiff in fear, Wizard dashed in front of her, and blocked it again. It stood before his hands at bay, just like before, only this time, her pink mixed with his purple and the cloud was taken aback. It shrieked again, but all three of them were shocked to find that it hardly did any damage.

The Harvest Goddess gently placed Wizard aside and walked forward. She shut her eyes, and in an instant, they became blue. She pushed her arms to the Plague and what followed was a great beam of beautiful blue shooting towards it. An even louder, far more pained scream followed this and just like what happened the first time, it dissipated. A wave of relief fell over the trio, mixed with awe and residual fear. They looked to her and all she could say to them was, "Yes, I know I look like your Harvest Goddess.

"I could be called her double, because I created her to be me, but with different loyalties. I thought I could take on two islands on my own, but when I found one body was incapable of the load, I went to prove that I could do it if I were split. I believe this was maybe three or four hundred years ago. What I found interesting is that she created her own identity, and could truly connect with humans to the point where she imbued some of them with her own magic unintendedly. I believe it was an old man and a little girl."

Witch Princess looked quite flush.

"The only downside is that her form was also slightly weaker than mine, and so she needed the Harvest King, which was perfect, because the island truly needed that mutualism. Now Castanet is indeed a great island, and I can say I'm glad to have done so." Wizard smiled a bit and asked, "So that magic follows from person to person then?" Harvest Goddess nodded and answered, "I can't say I quite know why that could be, but her connection with humanity has done a lot for the people of Castanet, and the nature, so I try not to think of it too much. After all, you two seem to function quite well with it."

The two of them looked to each other, and shrugged. It felt good to have some understanding of why they are who they are. On the other hand, Molly was still confused. "If we saved your island, why did the Plague come back? Didn't we make happiness more prominent through our actions? I know it can't be eliminated entirely, but shouldn't it have been minimalized?"

"Yes, but it wasn't quite attacking the island. It came for you and Kevin, Molly."

The other two looked to her in shock, and Wizard asked worriedly, "But why? Why her?"

"She caused happiness when once, islands like ours were prime feeding grounds for it. It thought since it caused it, it was better to kill the snake by cutting off the head."

"But it wasn't just her; it was… a pool of people who all contributed… to restoring the power of the elements and saving the Goddess Tree," Wizard countered, "So shouldn't they be attacked too?"

"Not necessarily. Although everyone contributed, Molly was the one who carried out the will of the Harvest Goddess and did quite a bit of work to ensure the restoration. It can't eliminate everyone when all it wants is to eliminate what made said people happy." Wizard hung his head and Molly asked, "That can't be the only reason, can it?"

"No; I can't say what, but you have a strange presence, unlike any mortal I have ever met. I'm sure that may have something to do with it too." Molly looked to the sky where the Plague once was and said, "It's going to come back, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid only one split goddess won't do any good against years of endless pain and agony in a collective pool. I'm sure something could, but it won't happen today. I merely weakened it enough to make sure it knew to stay away."

Wizard walked next to Molly and told her, "I know we can do it." Molly nodded and said, "I think… it's finally time to return home."

"I tend to agree, Molly. I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to you for your assistance in restoring the islands rainbows and my special tree. You'll have a special place here, even after death. May I have the honor of sending you three home?" the Harvest Goddess asked.

The three turned to her and the three chorused a grateful "Yes." She closed her hands together as if in prayer, and extended them like wings. On that extension, they blinked and found themselves in Molly's home. Molly was on her bed, Wizard in front of it, and Witch Princess on the table. They arose, rather dazed. "What time is it?" Wizard asked.

"Nine o' clock in the morning." Molly answered.

Witch Princess fell off the table, stood up quickly and asked confused, "Wait, have we been here for a whole day?"

"I believe so." Wizard replied.

Witch Princess shrugged, but gasped loudly and yelled excitedly, "My forest!" and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

"Uh, Molly?"

"Yes?"

This was it. His heart was pounding, his hands were clamming up and he could feel his throat drying. "Do you have… time today? I… want to talk?" He seemed a little shocked when she replied, "Of course!" He knew they needed time to readjust, particularly her for what she was going to explain to everyone for why she was gone for nearly three months, but he was so nervous, he could only blurt out, "Lighthouse at 4…" Molly nodded in understanding, and Wizard walked quickly to the door in embarrassment. "See you then" he said before quietly leaving and teleporting to his home for the first time in a long time.

He looked around his lab once again, finding relief that everything is as it was, and could only think of one thing.

"Time to take a nap in a real bed."


	23. Chapter 23

He grabbed his coat and dashed out of his home. He read 15:59 on his clock before leaving, waking up not two minutes before he promised to be there. Halfway to his destination, a thought popped into his mind: "Wait a second, I'm a wizard." He looked around to make sure no one could see him and teleported right next to Ozzie's shop. He looked and as he hoped, Molly awaited him next to the lighthouse. He took a moment to breathe, and relax, all while thinking words of encouragement. "You can do this. You can do this." He took a deep breath and walked to the lighthouse. When she saw Molly's smiling face and her arm waving to him, he immediately thought, "I can't do this."

"So why did we come here, then?" Molly asked. "Well, I wanted… to ask you something… and this seems to be an appropriate place to ask."

"Why is that?"

"Uh… well… I'm not quite… sure how to say this…"

And he didn't need to be. They were taken in a blue swirl immediately to somewhere else: The Goddess Spring.

"So you met my double, huh?"

The two of them looked around, puzzled by what had just happened. Witch Princess was right there, too. "You realize that just because we're home doesn't mean the mission's over, right? We still have a huge threat out there that might easily kill us," Witch Princess reminded them.

"Where did you get such a sense of responsibility from?" Wizard asked telepathically.

"You taught me some things. Congratulations, you achieved the impossible." She answered in kind. Aloud, she continued, "So let's see what we can do. Any ideas?"

"Well… what purpose did helping Kevin restore Waffle Island fulfill?"

"Well, there's a Plague, of course, which is the culmination of sadness of an island. It's pretty obvious at this point that this is not one island's sadness, but several. Like a Plague, however, there is a culmination of joy and happiness, made only of beneficial magic, called a Glee. It seemed that the large Glee was just about to be made after this Plague was, and saving Waffle Island pushed that over the edge, and so we now have two magical culminations come together for balance."

"Then what's our mission?" Wizard asked.

"To ensure it doesn't fail."

The trio looked to each other, indeed vexed by the challenge. "How can we go about that?" Wizard asked. "I can already feel its presence growing. The problem is that while the Plague actively seeks domination, the Glee does not. Its only job is to make happiness come where sadness comes, but it does not actively seek to dominate it. Our job, as of now, is to guide it towards the Plague. We know perfectly well where the Plague shall come to." Everyone looked to Molly, and she sighed.

"Gale, I know what you're thinking; play kissy-face later." Witch Princess ordered telepathically.

"And we know that the Glee shall follow the Plague, but where we come in is to make sure that we can get rid of it. It's only a matter of time until we see it again. All my double did was weaken it slightly, enough to keep it out of the island's way. Our efforts along with the Glee shall go to making sure it does not grow to such proportions ever again."

"How long… do you think it'll take to come along, then?" Molly asked, nervously.

"I want to say not to worry, but… I can make no such promises. It won't be long, trust me. In fact, I want the three of you to come with me. We'll be going to the King's throne." In that instant, the three of them were taken once again by that same swirl, and arrived atop the mountain.

"Well met. Shall we begin?" The Harvest King asked.

"Let's move."

"HOLD ON! I'm not doing anything without something special." She held out her arm, and with all her concentration, a broom landed forcefully into her hand. "Perfect. I like to have my own ride, if you don't mind."

"Fair enough. The two of you should come, then." The Goddess said. "Er, are you quite sure we should bring the mortal?" The King asked. "She has proven herself quite worthy. She's coming, too." The Goddess argued. He sighed, but reluctantly allowed her to come, and so was taken in a box to the skies.

The platform hovered well above the mountaintop. She knew the mountain was not quite that tall, but it was indeed tall enough to make Molly nervous.

"Don't worry, Molly. If anything happens, I'm right here to catch you." She smiled and told him, "Thank you. I only hope nothing does happen."

"Don't count on that." The King uttered.

The three of them sighed before hearing something. Wizard heard the familiar sounds, Molly felt cold, and Witch Princess looked ready to fall off her broom. "Your magic won't go out again. Not as long as myself and the Goddess are here. Prepare yourselves." They looked forward and indeed, the black cloud flew towards them.

"Back so soon, old friend?" The King boomed, "My, it has been so long. It's good to fight again." A few moments of silence passed, before finally, they heard booming, evil laughter burst from the cloud itself, and much faster than the last two times, the cloud created its black spear, aimed once again towards Molly. Wizard's reflexes were indeed quite fast, and blocked it in kind.

This time, however, without him even knowing, one came for him too. He was knocked back off the king's platform and fell towards the earth, and before anyone even knew it, a third spear flew towards her heart and pierced it. It stuck out through her back in just enough view for Wizard to see it and scream "NO!" and watch her descent.


	24. Chapter 24

He made his best efforts to slow his fall. With all of his might, he managed to levitate for one second, just enough time for Molly to speed towards him. He made a small jump, just enough to grab her in a bear hug, and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke immediately.

He made a crash landing, still holding Molly tightly as he landed, skidding across his back and shoulders until he finally hit the end of the king's throne. He laid her body down hurriedly. He could feel tears stinging down his face as he held Molly's limp body in his arms. "Please… PLEASE!"

From there, time slowed. He moved as quick as he could, feeling desperate, looking in her body for something, anything he could fix, but before he could have the chance to even finish, he felt something hoist him above by his shirt collar, and time seemed to resume as normal. "MOLLY!" he screamed. "MOLLY!" He moved his head upward hand found he was hanging by Witch Princess' hand, flying on her broomstick as quickly as possible to rejoin the battle. "LET ME GO," he cried, "LET ME GO RIGHT NOW!"

"Get a hold of yourself! We've got something important going on here!" Witch Princess yelled over the wind resistance. "We need you!"

"Molly needs me!"

"There's no way in hell that she could have survived that! Now, focus! We need you here with us! Do it for Molly!"

She dropped him back onto the platform where he was knocked off of before, and forced himself to focus. She seemed like a speck from where he stood. The message rang perfectly clear in his head: "Do it for Molly." He felt determination run through his veins. He prepared his magic, glowing a dark purple in his hands.

It was time to fight.

The king leaped above every last attack he made, skillfully dodging each attack. Every time it landed, he would land a shot of fire on the landed piece of cloud, and when it felt it, the cloud would dissolve. He did well for quite some time. Leap and fire, leap and fire. Sometimes, when the opportunity arrived, he would shoot the fire directly at the heart of the Plague, which would reward him with an occasional scream.

The Goddess was not much for attacking. For the most part, she dodged and did her best to shield the platform when possible, and only attacked in defense for the others. At one point, she joined in making an attack at the heart of the Plague through a blue beam of her beautiful magic, which indeed weakened it quite a bit.

As for Wizard and Witch Princess, they were mostly working as a team in order to match the power of one goddess. They would defend one another, and attack together. Purple and pink collided towards the heart when possible, but they flanked oppositely of the king and Goddess. For the most part, they held their own.

An hour in, seemingly feeling victory within their grasp, the Goddess didn't see something coming, while the king did. He immediately went to attack it, only to find themselves without their king fighting. When he stopped the attack from coming to her, another arm skewered him and sent him flying to the mountain wall. He laid there, his fire dim, and his body as limp as Molly's.

"Where's that stupid Glee?!" Witch Princess yelled.

The Harvest Goddess looked around, quite anxiously, until finally yelling, "There! I see it in the distance!" A golden cloud came flying, slowly, but surely making its way. "We must keep fighting it off! Let's keep going!" The Harvest Goddess ordered. They looked back, and continued fighting with all their might. It didn't take long, however, for another to fall.

A mace came flying towards Witch Princess with her back turned. In defending her, the Harvest Goddess was tricked and sent flying close to where the Harvest King now lies. Only two remained, and by the time she landed, the golden cloud finally arrived, trying its best to bond with the darkness. The attacks were interrupted. The heart seemed to change color.

"We might have a chance!" Witch Princess yelled, "Help it!"

"I have an idea! It'll be tricky, but it might help a lot more."

He drew a long breath and aimed his arms towards her back. She extended glorious angel wings from her back, larger than the platform itself. She could not use them, however, until Wizard took hold of her head and placed his thumb upon her forehead. In an instant, her eyes turned into a constantly moving stream of color and the wings brought with them her magical being from her body. It looked exactly like her, only transparent and with a mixture of pink and purple all over her soul. She flew towards the being with strength and agility and pierced through it. It cried screams of agony once again.

She continued doing this at least three more times. He was distracted by the excitement, too distracted to notice the fact that even while being attacked, and being taken by the Glee, it made a spear come for his back. As soon as Witch Princess noticed, she made an immediate return to her corporeal form and pushed him out of the way, causing her to fly to the other side of the mountain just like the other two.

Unlike them, she managed to stay awake, even if only for a couple of moments. He ran over there, kneeled by her and asked, "Why? We could have taken it."

"Because… we both… would have died… if it made it…" She coughed and said weakly, "I believe in you, Gale." She made a weak grin and was gone in an instant. He stood up, and looked at his problem. The Glee was doing its best, but it did not seek domination. Only to make it happy, which it is incapable.

"It's up to me, then."

He brought his hands together as if in prayer. His eyes glowed in that same fashion of Witch Princess' being. He made a mad leap for the edge and flew away. He prepared his magic once again, ready to deliver a final blow, whether it meant the end of the Plague, or the end of his life.


	25. Chapter 25

She woke up and only saw blackness. She used the solidity she felt on her back to get up and look around. It was dark to the point where she thought she was blind. Those fears were replaced by a new one as she saw a spark right in front of her, starting as a small ball of light at first. It sat there, filled her with hope, and then grew to massive proportions, and immediately watched the universe be born. Endless galaxies filled her view, the stars were the giants of her surroundings, and yet she did not feel small.

She was too distracted to realize the gravity she once had was gone, and instead, she floated in this galaxy. Looking forward, she found a being made only of light. She hovered towards it, and immediately, she saw it split into countless pieces and they spread off in an instant. She followed one group of those pieces in particular. They took her immediately to a small blue marble, finally finding some familiarity in all of this.

They went to work. The beings cooled the planet from its molten ashes and created earth, fire, wind, water, and from all of these came life itself. Not humanity, of course, but instead small groups. She watched as billions of years passed in front of her in mere minutes. She watched as those inklings of life turned into prokaryotes, eukaryotes, develop cells, photosynthesize, respire, and through time watched as they formed fish, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and finally, some minutes later to her and billions to them, humanity.

One being stood above the other beings that followed to this planet. She gave every order, assigned them where to go and how to assist the planet, and from there, things finally slowed down. They developed fire, tools, rational thought, language, civilization, government, writing, and through that order of life, they continued, but things slowed down for her. She looked to medieval China, and saw that great being giving orders there. She took a closer look, and found her holding his head in her hand, quite a bit taller than this human. She had hair that was green at the bottom, matched a yellow like fine sand as it went upward, and as the top came, saw a deep water like the ocean. Her dress was red, like a bright fire, and a pale yellow like the sun above.

She watched them lock into a passionate kiss, then time jumped forward, and found a family, the woman looking like a normal woman of the time. There were at least twelve children running around, some older, some younger, some were mere infants. Time flashed forward to find her appearing at funerals. She could not read ancient Chinese, but could tell when she was in mourning of her children dying. Throughout all of these funerals, their children joined, and their children. Hundreds of years had passed, and she and her love were still alive, looking quite the same.

One day, however, the man had grown very sick, sick to the point where nothing she could do helped at all. Her soul was of the earth, so she could not join him in death. However, she knew of a way to see his soul forever, and end his suffering. She took his sword, and impaled it through her chest. As she fell, so too did her love, and their souls came together in harmony. Their souls were locked together as they swore a vow of eternal love to one another, and using that love, decided to create something special.

The love spread to two individuals of each land, male and female, who would wake up one morning and find themselves with the ability to perform incredible feats that normal humans could not do. Each region had a pair. She found a pair in China, in what would now be known as the United States, she found a pair in the indigenous tribes of Australia, in each country of Africa, in each country in the Arabic countries, and finally rested on a pair that she knew easily well.

The Witch and Wizard of Castanet.

"Their power relies on the stars. The closer they feel to them, the more powerful the witch and wizard. The more they practice and hone their talent, the better they are with their ability. The better they get along, the more powerful they become. Each time a star dims, they feel it. Why must they rely on stars?

"Because our love extends to the stars. Their positions, their movement, their fusions and fissions, they all create that power.

"My love created a piece of me that went into my child, and passed on for every child she had. It continued and continued, and now, that fate rests in the final link of the chain.

"So now, I beckon your best guess, Molly… why am I here, within your mind?"

She finally snapped back into herself. She watched so much happened, she forgot that she was her own person. "I'm a child of a goddess?"

"Not just any goddess, my child. The first Goddess. The one who created this life you know of, assigned those Gods and Goddesses you know now to each island. I gave up my magical form to be with my love, Shanyu, but the magic still lingered within me. Our souls were locked together through love, a deep spiritual bond we formed, and as I continued to live, his soul persisted, but I cannot stop the vessel from what must be done. To make sure his soul persisted, I gave up my corporeal form to return to the position in which I once belonged. That was 300 years ago."

"So it wasn't the Waffle Island Harvest Goddess splitting her soul that created them. It was you!"

"Yes. The magic, just like our bond, will never die, and so when the vessel gives, it moves onto a soul deserving of that magic. In this case, your very wizard had a soul just perfect for it. The same goes for your witch. They are worthy souls. Even now, one continues to fight the darkness outside of this vessel. I apologize for that."

"Wait; you created that?"

"As I am the one responsible for giving humanity rational thought and instinct, and for spreading magic throughout the land after I came back to be a Goddess, yes, I created what you call a 'Plague'. However, I still have no answer for why I am here."

"Are you here to help us ward it off?"

"Not just ward it off, but weaken it. Make it go back to being a region-only phenomena."

"Before we do that, why does Castanet have a witch and wizard, but not Waffle Island?"

"That Goddess had too much to handle. I thought a God could handle Castanet on their own, but he had no compassion for humanity, and so a Goddess was needed. When she split herself, I made sure a witch and wizard was there to help."

"I see."

"Let me show you what your friends are doing."

She created a panel for Molly. She saw the kind, the Goddess, and Witch Princess all lying there, limp, but someone was missing. She looked for him, but found him in mid-air, making a wild attempt to land on the Plague with every last bit of his magic he could muster.

"He's going to die! We have to save him!"

"Not just him, of course. When you're ready, take my hand."


	26. Chapter 26: Final Chapter

She thought her hand felt like a cloud, as if something was there, and yet not. It's as if she felt a spark in her brain. In an instant, she was no longer staring into the eyes of the Goddess, but the world surrounding her instead. The mountain top looked so puny, and she towered above the platform. She saw Wizard halfway to her, but waved her hand to bring him back to the throne. He fell over in complete shock. Molly was blind and deaf, not quite sure of what was happening, but let the Goddess take control. She placed her colossal hand over the three and they too arrived at the throne. Perhaps it was her magic, but they started to wake up, and see what has become of Molly.

"Molly?" Wizard gasped, absolutely astounded by what happened. He looked up and her new form stared down the Plague. "What's going on with Molly?!" Witch Princess cried.

"Ignis, Mother has come! Look!"

The Goddess and king stared in awe at the pure size and power of her form. She flew towards the Plague and Glee, seeming rather miniscule in size now.

"I created you," The Mother Goddess boomed, "Now I must destroy you!" She spread her arms out wide, which spanned several miles, and the Glee spiraled across her arms like coil. The golden cloud shined like a morning star in her arms. She took a deep breath, surrounded the black cloud in her hands like a dark orb, and in an instant, all they could hear were agonized screams ringing throughout the land. They covered their ears, wishing it would stop, but Wizard looked up and noticed the clouds were unraveling.

She siphoned the magic of the Glee, and guided it to the very core of the Plague. It moved quickly and strongly, but something else went along with it. It came from Molly's corporeal form, lying inside there for a long time. It seemed amplified when someone came closer to her.

Time passed, before finally, the shrieks of darkness finally ceased. All that remained were specks of darkness and light coming from the remains of the Glee and the Plague. Using what she could, she combined the two forms, transforming from black and gold into the blue of a fiery star. She flew into the air until there was no more atmosphere, and blew the hybrid far away.

"Be happy."

She returned to the mountaintop and shrunk down to the size of the Goddess and King. The Goddess ran to her and hugged her. "Mother, we missed you! It's been three hundred years!" She hugged back, and said, "I could say the same for you, Sephia." She looked up to her, her big blue eyes staring up at her so innocently, so happy. Ignis walked to her and said, "It is a pleasure to see you again, Mother. We missed you quite a bit." She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, and told him, "You and Sephia have handled Castanet wonderfully. But, Sephia, I know what has happened with you." She frowned and said, "I know, Mother. I couldn't handle it with one form."

"I understand. You've done an amazing job under the circumstances. But time wears anyone down, Sephia. I have an idea that will make you happy. Lend me your hair." She removed a strand and gave it to her slowly. She took it as gentle as anything else she has done, and walked towards Wizard. "Gale, may I borrow some love? It grows right back."

Wizard sputtered, "Love? Love for who? My friends, the stars, there's lots of different loves—"

"It's all right, Gale. I am not Molly. She cannot see, nor hear you."

He breathed in nervously, but allowed her into his heart. She placed two fingers on his heart, and held something red and white. "You really do love her, don't you?" Gale blushed and said, "Yes." She smiled and told him, "Be honest with yourself and Molly. The both of you will appreciate it. After all, this is quality love I'm holding right now. It's only a small piece, and it already holds enough power for my purpose."

She walked towards Sephia, allowing the things to hover beside her, held onto her head, thumb in the middle of forehead and chanted, "Be whole again" several times. She disappeared in a blue and green sparkle that flew away gradually, following the direction of Waffle Island. Using the love and her hair, she used what little power she had left to create something quite amazing.

A new Sephia.

She appeared in a swirl of blue and green, behaved and held every memory of Sephia. "This… this feels better. I am not split anymore, Mother." She nodded and said, "I know. I hope you will be happy now." She walked to the top of the throne and stood in front of Wizard.

"I do not wish to be rude… but why are you here?" he asked.

"Because my creation had awoken a piece of me. That spear made me realize the world was in danger, and so, using a piece of me that was passed down to Molly, I came to be and now everything is safe."

"How did that piece get in here?"

Instead of words, she merely gave him and the others images. They passed through their minds in a matter of mere seconds.

"That explains many things, Mother." Ignis said, still in awe.

"I knew there was something up with her!" Witch Princess remarked.

"I always knew… she was amazing, but a child of a goddess… incredible. But… how did that piece get inside of your child?"

"I think a piece of oneself goes into everything they love."

He blushed again. He understood that feeling.

"Do not hesitate to beckon me when you need my help again." Before disappearing, she told Wizard, "Be quick. The corporeal form needs someone to grab her. Ready?" He wasn't sure at first what she meant by the "corporeal form", but when she disappeared in a light, and Molly's body came back, she looked ready to fall over, and he grabbed her before he could. She smiled weakly at him, and he smiled back.

"Allow me to teleport you back to your homes." The king offered.

After a fiery swirl, he found himself still holding Molly in her home. It was quite dark as it was late at night. Molly was out like a light, and so he carried her back to her bed. He laid her down like a child being brought back to their bed after falling asleep, but before leaving, he whispered to her, "I want to do this right, Molly. If you come see me, I'll make sure it'll be done right."

He stroked her hair away from her face, and turned away to walk back outside. Coming out, he stared at the night sky. He thought to himself, it's so clear out. I don't think the stars ever looked like this.

They shone brightly over him. Fireflies joined him in his viewing. Something coursed within him, a feeling that made him feel completely whole. He now understood it why, and it only made him stronger. He had no idea love could work such an amazing feat. It filled him with determination. It made his heart sing, and his body feel invincible. The stars are amazing, the stars hold what he needed. He knew there was a reason to love them.

He knew there was a reason to feel like he was one.


	27. Epilogue

"How long do you think we've been out here?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really."

"Then it's settled—we're staying here."

"You won't get any arguments from me…" She giggled a little, "Gale."

They were lying in front of a tree by their home. It was late at the night, and the moon reflected across the pond. Molly placed her head on Gale's chest, and he stroked her hair while relaxing on the trunk.

"I still feel like an idiot for calling you 'Wizard' this entire time," said Molly calmly, "I get why, but I still wish I didn't have to do that."

"It was necessary… for my protection. I may love you… but I could never have known if you loved me… unless you said so," he said, "but I'm glad you know now." Molly smiled and replied "Me too."

It was a beautiful fall moon. It was the day of the Moon Viewing Festival, but they wanted to be alone, and the view they have on their farm is just as good as Flute Fields. "I still think of how beautiful you looked in your wedding dress," said Gale. "I worked hard on it. Witch Princess was a big help though." He chuckled and said, "Who would have thought she'd watch my wedding?"

"Of course, she couldn't bother being in the church, but the sentiment that she was literally there in spirit is always nice," she joked. "You know, when you kissed me on the altar, it… felt like something happened. Like, out of the ordinary."

"I am a wizard, you know," he reminded her. "I know, I know, but… when we nearly kissed on Waffle Island, it didn't quite feel like that." He nodded and said, "No, I know what you mean. Those were our souls." He lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "Our souls?"

"Technically… we're both magical beings… even if your magic is different from mine. It wouldn't be hard to imagine… that our souls became intertwined," he suggested. "You mean… as in we'll be together, even after death."

"I'm an immortal being, Molly. If I'm correct… and our souls are intertwined… then we'll live on earth forever, I guess, as long as one of us doesn't die from something else."

Molly was taken aback by this. Complete immortality… is it possible, she thought. But then he looked her with a special look, and told her, "For as long as I love you, life will be worth living… and I don't think I'll stop loving you."

She pondered this. "If there's one thing I can take solace in for my newfound immortality, it's that there are people here with me. We'll all be here together, and you and I can love each other for as long as life goes on."

"I'm okay with that, as long as you're happy. I couldn't bear to see you unhappy."

She went right back to his chest, and stayed there, where she was quite comfortable and warm. "Hey, Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She turned her head to face him and said, "I love you, too."

He lifted her up and they shared a beautiful kiss under the moonlight. This felt amazing to both of them. This felt right. This was exactly where they needed to be, and they stayed there. After many hours, she fell asleep on him, and he was okay with it. He stared at the stars for a while after, just sitting there, feeling her heartbeat and listening to her breathe. It was a good rhythm that went beautifully along with the fire of the stars. When he realized he needed sleep too, he carried her back to their home and laid her down on the bed, and he cradled her until it was time for her to work.

. . .

Time continued its beautiful march. They experienced true intimacy about a month within the relationship, ready to experience the challenge of parenthood. It started with a girl, and then a boy. It broke her heart to send off her first child, but she knew it was for the greater good. She would come back to visit every now and again, and each time, she would look older and older while the two of them stayed the same.

Nothing hurt more for the both of them than to see the funerals of her children. They had to pass themselves off as friends so they wouldn't raise suspicion. Time healed their wounds however, and the fact that they knew that if something happened to one of them, they had tons and tons of relatives there to pass on their name gave them some hope. They consistently arrived to Castanet as a newcomer farmer every one hundred fifty years or so; that way, they could continue to live in their farm without alarming anyone.

Despite the fact that she watched so many people that she knew die, Molly never quite felt alone. She was worried for the first one hundred years or so that time would pass to the point where they might now love each other anymore, but that time never seemed to come. If anything, they loved each other more, and made them appreciate one another more and more. The fact that there was something unchanging, a constant throughout their lives in a world that kept going fast, made their relationship something far more special than any other they ever had.

800 years after the fact, they sat once again. Even though the town moved on from such festivals like the Moon Viewing festival, they still made it their own special time, sitting on the hill next to what was once Horn Ranch, and staring at the stars. It was still quite romantic, no matter how long they were together.

"Molly, you made my life perfect."

"Thank you, Gale."

"Can I ask you something? Are you still happy?"

"Absolutely!"

"Do you still love me?"

"I could never not."

"Then everything has been worthwhile." They continued to stare the stars. She placed her head on his shoulders, and his arm was around hers.

"Gale, could I ask you something now?"

"Please do."

"Is it… supposed to feel like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like… like I'm tired, but still filled with energy. Everything is moving fast, and I'm still slow."

Gale sighed. "It's what happens when a soul is still bound for too long. You may be intertwined with my soul, but you were once mortal. It's difficult to explain, really."

"No, I think I understand. I'm not trying to say I'm unhappy, but it's… it's different, you know?"

"I understand. My soul was meant to live on forever on Earth."

Molly nodded, and held him tight. To each other, they were something solid. They needed that.

"I love you, Gale."

"And I love you."

. . .

The church bells rang. It was a small service. The few attendees walked down the small hill, and watched the new priest deliver a eulogy. A farmer and her husband were crushed by a tree, and were buried next to one another. One person was a small acquaintance of the farmer, and could not think of much to say, only that she knew she was closest to the farmer. The rest fell silence. There were no family members, and only the priest could think of good words to say about them, even though he also knew little of the couple. After a few moments of mourning, the attendees walked back up to the spire, and left the grounds. They all returned to the lives they were born to live, within their own timeline. Their graves were left alone, and as more time passed, they were soon forgotten.

No human on Earth could remember Molly and Gale.

Outside the earth, where countless galaxies dotted the universe, they flew together. They raced comets, orbited stars, and saw the sights of countless planets. He always thought the galaxy was a little more amazing when the vastness was far away, but it still meant a lot. Nothing could limit their discovery. Thousands of descendants followed them, and the friends they made and their ancestors came together to join them. The very first goddess towered them, and with her grace and love, made sure that they could be happy together for eternity. They shared meals with their many loved ones whenever they wanted. They could zoom throughout creation and beyond. Gale finally got what he wanted: The ability to explore the galaxy and be amongst the stars with his true soulmate.

They would always come back to Earth, however, just to see what it is like without them. They noticed a new farmer had come and taken over their house. It was okay to them. As long as she took good care of that farm, they could never be offended, particularly since it is of no use to them now. They would still look back on the farm and the hill when they wanted. The earth was their favorite place to watch the galaxy, but it was always a relief that Earth was not a limit to either of them anymore. They do not need it anymore, but it was a romantic spot to them. Earth brought back the reasons they loved each other to them. Everything good that they have now after death was because of this planet.

He finally received an ending, something he never thought he could have.


End file.
